700 million TL transferred to the company clearing olive groves in Akbelen
Approximately 700 million lira was transferred from TEİAŞ to the company clearing olive groves in the Akbelen Forest in İkizköy, Muğla, for a coal mine, under the guise of incentives.
It has been learned that a company targeting olive groves in the Akbelen Forest near İkizköy, Milas, Muğla, for a coal mine has received incentives from the state. It has emerged that hundreds of millions of lira were transferred from the Turkish Electricity Transmission Corporation (TEİAŞ) to YK Enerji, a joint venture between Limak Holding and IC İçtaş, to generate electricity from coal.
TEİAŞ makes payments to electricity-producing companies under the name of ‘capacity mechanism payments’. This incentive is provided in the electricity market ‘to meet a projected future production capacity requirement and ensure supply security’.
According to announcements made by TEİAŞ, a total of 698 million 145 thousand TL has been transferred to YK Energy for its Yeniköy and Kemerköy power plants since January. The company received 234 million 220 thousand TL for its Yeniköy facility and 463 million 924 thousand TL for its Kemerköy facility.
HE TURNED OUT TO BE FROM THE AKP
On Sunday, 15 September, YK Energy, accompanied by dozens of gendarmes, uprooted olive trees in the licensed area with excavators. It was learned that Muhittin Kayabaş, the agricultural engineer who approved the operation and was personally involved in the project, was also an AKP candidate for the 25th, 26th and 27th terms of the Muğla Parliament and the AKP candidate for the Fethiye Municipality in the 2019 local elections.
Kayabaş, who personally supervised the uprooting of the olive trees in Akbelen, described the reactions of environmentalists as ‘provocative,’ stating, "All scientists and producers know that olives are being transplanted. We are relocating the olive trees to areas vacated by the mine. Our people can come and see for themselves. We will monitor the growth of the relocated trees. Those who say “the olive trees are being cut down” are distorting the truth."
Note: This article is translated from the original article titled Akbelen'de zeytinlikleri söken şirkete 700 milyon TL aktarıldı, published in BirGün newspaper on September 17, 2025.
