In May 2013, Turkey was shaken by mass protests that were labeled as the Gezi Park uprising. In the beginning, there were only a few tents erected by environmentalists in Gezi Park in Istanbul to prevent the cutting down of some trees. After a harsh police intervention where tents were set on fire, millions of Turks took to the streets across the country in an unprecedented social movement. Some of the protesters are still in prison and being tried.

Nowadays, tensions are running quite high once again on environmental matters with protests, campaigns and strong reactions across the country. Thousands of protesters staged demonstrations on the outskirts of a small town in the northwestern province of Canakkale over the Kirazli Gold Mine Project owned by Dogu Biga Mining, the Turkish subsidiary of Canada-based Alamos Gold, after disturbing images of clear cutting in the Ida Mountains shared on social media sparked public outrage. Alamos Gold allegedly cut down 195,000 trees, four times more than it declared in the environmental impact report. 

In addition, some 123,000 people signed a petition in just under two days to protect Lake Salda in the Yesilova district of Burdur province in southwestern Turkey. Lake Salda is referred to as “Turkey’s Maldives” because of its white sand and turquoise waters. The petition demands that the Turkish government cancel plans to build a park around the lake.

Meanwhile, protests continue against the filling of the controversial Ilisu Dam, whose artificial lake will submerge 12,000-year-old town of Hasankeyf in Batman province in Turkey's southeast. Police took 19 protesters into custody before releasing them.