VAN- Villagers whom the gendermerie opened fired against yesterday because they were protesting the marble quarry to be built in the Yurtbaşı neighborhood told thatthe gendermerie told them "We will remove you from this village. You can not live here."

 

 

Villagers whom the gendermerie opened fired against in the Gürpınar district of Van told that they were being forced into migration for the profit of a company. Pointing out that hundreds of soldiers were deployed in their village, the villagers told that they were subjected to violence and being arbitrarily detained, underlining that 40 barns were destroyed by the soldiers. The villagers collected the cartridges of the bullets fired at them and display them at the village square.

 

'WE CAN'T LIVE HERE IF THEY BUILD THAT MARBEL QUARRY'

 

One of the villagers Hilal Batuğ stated that the marble quarry started to operate in 2006, but it was closed down because they resisted, said it was once again starting to operate. Noting that she has animals in the place the marble quarry will be built, told that they will have to migrate because of the damage the quarry will do to their village. Stressing that they don't want to be poisoned, Batuğ said: "Gendermerie and rangers destroyed our barns. They opened fired against the people protesting this. We can't live here if they build that quarry. Our people were victimized. They used tear gas on us. The government has to find a solution."

 

 

 

MA / Dindar Karataş