The Turkish couple\u2019s high-tech activism is accidental. The artists have known each other from their teens. They left wealthy neighborhoods of Istanbul in 2004 and built a home in the Alakir Valley without electricity, telephones or internet. The goal was to explore the possibilities of an alternative lifestyle; to escape rather than confront consumer culture.<\/p>\n
But it caught up with them five years later when they heard the sound of bulldozers and chainsaws near their woodland home. The K\u00fcrce HES power company were clearing land alongside the Alak\u0131r river so they could begin construction of a cascade of six hydroelectric dams.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe decided to do everything we can to stop them,\u201d says Erkutlu. \u201cWe saw birds raise chicks here. Squirrels and foxes too. After a while, they become like family. When someone comes to your home and starts to kill them, it\u2019s a normal reflex to try to stop them.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n They changed tack. Abandoning a policy of isolation and total self-sufficiency, they asked friends for donations to help pay for a legal challenge against the project, then painted pictures, released albums and performed street art to raise awareness and funds. Most effectively, they have taken to social media to mobilize public opinion, posting photos of the destruction.<\/p>\n A backlash followed. Some in the local community turned against them for opposing a company that had brought jobs and tax revenue. Their visitors were threatened. Lawsuits were filed. Police called them in repeatedly for questioning. Shots were fired outside their home.<\/p>\n The political climate in Turkey was also becoming more hostile to environmental activism. In 2013, a small demonstration to save trees in Istanbul\u2019s Gezi Park from a shopping mall project morphed into a nationwide wave of anti-government protests that brought hundreds of thousands of people into Taksim Square. After that, president Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan said opponents of development projects were traitors. Underscoring the risks was the high-profile murder in Antalya last year of two anti-quarry campaigners \u2013 Aysin and Ali B\u00fcy\u00fcknohut\u00e7u \u2013 who were shot in their homes on 10 May 2017, soon after winning a landmark court case against a marble company. The alleged killer said he was paid to carry out the hit by the company boss, but was found dead in prison before he could tell a judge. Guards said it was suicide. The case was closed.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was a shock,\u201d<\/em> said Erkutlu. \u201cIt was a message to environmental defenders that you can be killed and nobody will be punished.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Their alternative lifestyle drew media attention to development issues that otherwise get little coverage in Turkey, which has the world\u2019s worst record for arresting journalists.<\/p>\n \u201cUntil then, there was little journalism about the environment,\u201d said G\u00fcnal. \u201cWe invited some journalists and said they could write about our lives as long as 50% was about the environment. That was our deal,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a thin line. We don\u2019t want to be killed \u2026 and we don\u2019t want to be arrested by the government, but we want to defend the environment.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The couple says the company has bought much of the land around their plot, felled swaths of trees \u2013 including oaks that were several hundred years old \u2013 and diverted the underground spring that was their main water supply.<\/p>\n The company says the hydro-dams are necessary for economic development, but the two artists have collaborated with scientists, lawyers and other environmental groups to reveal the plant is generating less than a fifth of its capacity, providing barely enough electricity for a single, mid-sized shopping mall.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t want to be seen as anti-hydroelectric. But to say that because of the climate you need more alternatives,\u201d<\/em> G\u00fcnal says.<\/p>\n To demonstrate, they have installed a solar panel on their home. The photovoltaic energy has enabled them to operate drone patrols that exposed violations of environmental regulations. As a result, the company has received two hefty penalties. One more and its license could be suspended.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.yesildirenis.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/birkan-tugba-alakir-2.jpg\")
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