Turkish court halts solar plant planned on olive grove in Karaburun
An Izmir administrative court suspended the project's zoning plans and building permit, citing protections for olive groves and special-crop farmland.
An administrative court in Izmir has suspended a solar power plant planned on farmland holding nearly 6,000 olive trees in Yaylaköy, a village in the Karaburun district on Turkey's Aegean coast.
In a Sept. 24 ruling, the Izmir 7th Administrative Court halted both the zoning plans issued by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change and the building permit granted by Karaburun Municipality for the project by Lodos Karaburun Elektrik Üretim A.Ş. The court found the plans conflicted with planning principles and the public interest, noting that the olive groves and land suited to olive growing east of the village lie within a Special Environmental Protection Area.
The case was brought by Mustafa Şenbahar, a villager who leased barren treasury land in 2007 and turned it into an olive grove, and by the local administration of Küçükbahçe, whose pastures lie within the project area.
In a statement, lawyer Cem Altıparmak of the Altıparmak Law Office said an earlier positive environmental impact assessment (EIA) decision for the project had been annulled, and alleged that the company illegally cut olive trees on the site while that case was ongoing. A criminal case and a compensation suit over the cutting are still pending. The ekoIQ report did not include a response from the company.
The statement said wind and solar plants, though carbon-free, require vast amounts of land and are increasingly sited on pastures, forests and farmland that local people depend on for a living.
This brief is based on reporting by the ekoIQ newsroom, published Oct. 13, 2026. Read the original: https://www.ekoiq.com/karaburundaki-ges-projesine-yurutmeyi-durdurma-karari/
This article was produced with the assistance of AI tools and reviewed by an editor before publication.
