Turkish gendarmes briefly detained four villagers on Tuesday during a protest against a commercial fish farming project that residents say threatens their traditional fishing grounds in the Black Sea province of Rize, Turkish media reported.
The detentions took place in the fishing village of Zelek in the Pazar district, where residents have been holding a vigil to protest plans by the Kuzuoğlu Group to establish offshore fish farms near the village.
The company’s chairman, Hasan Kuzuoğlu, is a former local official from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and ran for a city council seat on the party’s ticket in the 2024 local elections.
While gendarmes blocked access to the fishing harbor as the company brought materials to the area, villagers staged a sit-in to protest the closure, prompting an intervention in which Hacer Kanbay, Ahmet Tafralı, İbrahim Oğuz and Muhammet Yağcı were detained. The four fishermen were later released on a prosecutor’s orders without being questioned.
Villagers say the company’s permit to operate should not be used to justify restricting licensed local fishermen’s access to the harbor, arguing that authorities should not facilitate the installation of fish cages at the expense of traditional fishing.
The Kuzuoğlu Group plans three fish farming projects one kilometer off the coast, with a combined annual production capacity of 12,000 tons, nearly twice the 6,380 tons of fish produced across Rize in 2025.
Residents have been protesting the project since August 2025 but ended their vigil after being told five months ago that it would not move forward. They resumed the vigil in June after the company put a fish cage offshore and later brought two anchors to the harbor.
Main opposition New Path Party lawmaker Tahsin Ocaklı, who represents Rize in parliament, joined the villagers on Tuesday and criticized the gendarmerie’s restrictions on access to the harbor. İstanbul lawmaker İskender Bayhan from the Labor Party (EMEP) also traveled to the area to show support for the villagers.
Günay Karafazlı, the Rize representative of the Human Rights Association (İHD), was initially prevented by gendarmes from entering the protest area but later allowed in following Ocaklı’s intervention.
Turkey has seen repeated protests by local communities against mining, energy and other commercial projects approved under the ruling AKP, with residents citing threats to the environment and their livelihoods and some demonstrations resulting in interventions by security forces, detentions and arrests.
