On the easternmost edge of Turkey’s Black Sea coast lies Artvin, a small province of 100,000 people known for its high per capita rate of higher education and its proclivity to leftist activism. Artvin’s picturesque forests are cited among the world’s top 100 in terms of natural riches, lying on a bird migration route and boasting a diverse ecosystem and endemic flora.

No wonder Artvin attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists each year. In the eyes of governments and companies, however, Artvin is a place where billions of dollars lie underground in the form of unexplored ores. This clash of viewpoints has for years made Artvin a base of resistance against mining projects, the biggest and most striking of which erupted Feb. 15.

Back in the summer of 2013, the people of Artvin lent strong support to the Gezi Park resistance in Istanbul, which infuriated then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and earned him widespread international criticism for the excessive force he used to suppress the protests.

Artvin’s current resistance is having a similar impact on now-President Erdogan. This became evident when Erdogan blasted it as "junior Gezi." For the activists, however, this may have come as a compliment.