Producers marched in Fatsa: Let's unite for our land, our water, our hazelnuts
Hazelnut producers held a mass march in Fatsa under the slogan ‘For Labour, Land and Country’. Gathering together to address the problems created in the hazelnut sector, the producers declared, ‘Together, we will send away this government, which is the source of all these problems.’ While listing their demands regarding the problems in the region, they called on all citizens to join the united struggle.
News Centre
In the Fatsa district of Ordu, producers held a march against the AKP government under the slogan ‘For Labour, Land and Country’.
Producers who came together against the Palace regime, which leaves producers at the mercy of moneylenders and merchants and pampers capital instead of supporting production, called for a change in government.
Producers gathered at Fatsa Cumhuriyet Square at 13:00 and marched towards Plevne Square in the city centre.
In line with the marches initiated by the LEFT Party across the country, many political parties and labour organisations, such as EMEP, CHP, the Union of All Pensioners, the Fatsa Nature and Environment Association, and the Ordu Environment Association, also supported the march organised by the producers.
Throughout the march, slogans such as “AKP to the grave, the people to power”, “We are the producers, we will be the rulers”, and “There is no salvation alone, either all together or none of us” were chanted.
During the mass march, producers from every village in the region who supported the march showed their reaction to the government behind their own banners.
WE WILL SEND THIS GOVERNMENT AWAY
Speaking on behalf of the March Organising Committee, Ahmet Özdemir said, "Today, all social segments of the country are showing their reactions to this government in every area. Producers are accumulating their anger day by day. Workers and pensioners are trying to make a living on the minimum wage of £16,000.
Young people whose futures have been stolen, especially after the 19 March Coup, are stepping up their struggle for their future, especially with the wind of change blowing over the barricades. Women are rising up against the reactionary regime to defend their right to life. In other words, all segments of society in the country are standing up, showing their determination to change this government, overthrow the reactionary regime and build the country's future."
Özdemir made the following statements:
"Today, we producers in Fatsa have begun our march to change this government. We know that as producers striving to protect our air, water, and soil, we are strong together. From Şavşat to Kemalpaşa, from Ankara to Eskişehir, we are raising our struggle for life against a handful of minorities across this country. This walnut march is a step in that struggle. We are expressing our rebellion against the problems we face in production. We are here to talk about the problems created by this regime, which leaves hazelnuts at the mercy of capital groups, moneylenders and merchants. This government, which is deaf and dumb to the frost damage to hazelnuts, continues to remain indifferent to the problems created by the climate crisis.
THE ONE-MAN REGIME IS RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERYTHING
Following Özdemir, Mert Ünal, a member of the LEFT Party's Central Committee, also said that the country's most fundamental problem is the one-man regime.
Ünal said:
"This country has a fundamental problem. This country is ruled by a one-man regime. One man claims to understand everything. He claims to understand industry, domestic politics, foreign policy, women, youth. He claims that only he understands all of these things. The same man says he understands agriculture. He says he understands law and economics. As you know, this one-man regime recently dealt another blow to this country's democracy. Journalist Merdan Yanardağ and İmamoğlu were arrested in a spy operation. This one-man regime has decided not to even held the election it will lose, and it is so blinded by bloodlust that it will even throw the man it lost into prison. And we can only defeat this one-man regime if we fight together. Only the united struggle of the workers can defeat them.
WE URGE ALL PRODUCERS TO UNITE AND FIGHT
We know that this government has no interest in the problems and interests of the people, the interests of pensioners and workers. This one-man regime loves the moneyed elite, loves capital, loves Trump in the White House.
However, we will not give up talking about our problems, coming together, and stepping up our joint struggle. Today, this march is, in a sense, a demonstration of this. Once again, we are voicing our demands regarding hazelnuts. We will fight for these demands to the end. And once again, we are making a call from here. We invite all producers to unite in cooperatives and to fight.
During the march, producers listed their demands. The statement made was as follows:
"Our land and our hazelnuts; the future of our homeland is being destroyed. With cyanide gold mines and other mining operations, Fatsa, in particular, and the entire Black Sea region have been placed under the “secret occupation” of imperialist monopolies!
Our country's resources have been exploited; our nature has been ruthlessly destroyed, our air and water polluted. Our land and hazelnuts have been devalued, our labour has been toyed with by Ferrero!
Now, the Kokarca hazelnut is encircling us on all sides as the new gravedigger! In response, the state is taking almost no measures whatsoever to help producers!
Combined with the agricultural frost caused by the climate crisis, this year producers are facing a complete disaster!
This disaster is a harbinger of even greater disasters. If this continues, the number of producers who do not enter their orchards each year will increase, hazelnut orchards will lose all their value, and the orchards will become abandoned ruins!
They want to kill the hazelnut on purpose! Imperialist monopolies are trying to limit production, and the government is knowingly accepting this!
Killing the hazelnut means killing these lands. That is why our labour struggle is a struggle for our homeland!
We will defend our labour and our land; we will uproot the predatory companies and the rapacious imperialist monopolies from our land!
Our struggle is the struggle of the entire people for their rights and labour against a handful of exploiters!
Our struggle is a struggle for liberation and independence against the exploitative companies occupying our land!
In this struggle, as all producers, as workers, labourers and pensioners; as all the oppressed, with our young people and women whose futures are being stolen, we have no other choice but to unite. We call on producers to stand together for our land and our labour; to unite and organise by establishing Producer Councils village by village to win our rights. Let us unite for the urgent demands of the people at the Fatsa Hazelnut March.
>> Our region, which is facing a locust invasion and has suffered from agricultural frost damage, should be declared a DISASTER ZONE.
>> All damages suffered by producers due to the locust invasion and agricultural frost should be compensated by the state.
>> The state should launch a MOBILISATION to combat locusts; public resources should be used to combat locusts through natural means.
>> Farmers' debts to the Agricultural Bank should be deferred.
>> FERRERO, which occupies our land and exploits our labour, should be expelled.
>> Producer cooperatives should be re-established with an approach that gives producers a voice and decision-making power.
Note: This article is translated from the original article titled Üreticiler Fatsa’da yürüdü: Toprağımız, suyumuz, fındığımız için birleşelim, published in BirGün newspaper on October 27, 2025.
