The quarry threatening Turkey’s pristine ‘Paradise Valley’

Construction has angered villagers who allege it is illegal, and dangerous to their health and prosperity.

Ikizdere, Turkey – Moving methodically as she cuts tea leaves from her plantation clinging to the side of a mountain between Cevizlik and Gürdere villages, Pervin Baş said her livelihood is now threatened by a massive quarry being built in the valley below. Since moving to the exceptionally picturesque region of Rize province on Turkey’s Black Sea coast 30 years ago after marrying a local, Baş, 50, has been growing tea, potatoes, corn and green beans, as well as raising cows, in the green mountains that reach the clouds. The birds and running stream below her tea plantation have now been drowned out with the constant coming and going of trucks carrying loads of stone and dirt, and excavators digging into the valley, making way for a stone quarry to be built to support the construction of Rize Port.