Arrest operation against tobacco farmers in Adıyaman

Nearly fifty tobacco farmers were taken into custody in the province of Adıyaman on Friday. The raids by police and gendarmerie (military police) took place both in the city center and districts. Those involved are accused of taking part in unauthorized protests against a new legislative regulation. They are being held at police headquarters as well as at the gendarmerie headquarters.

Roads blocked with armored vehicles

At the same time as the raids, armored vehicles drove up in many places in Adıyaman. The gendarmerie sealed off several roads in the province with armored vehicles. Soldiers patrol many places, and the situation is tense. The arrest operations took place just before a parliamentary debate on the anti-smuggling law No. 5607, which came into force on July 1 and makes tobacco cultivation and sales subject to licensing.

Tobacco cultivation only livelihood

Tobacco farmers and traders who fail to obtain a license from the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry face prison sentences of at least three to a maximum of six years and fines of between 5,000 TL and 50,000 TL under the new regulations. If the authorization is in place, tobacco may be grown legally, but farmers are still not allowed to trade the product freely on the market. Sales remain dependent on membership of a cooperative, which must consist of at least 250 members. Tobacco farmers from Adıyaman and the neighboring province of Malatya suspect that interests of the foreign tobacco industry are playing a role in the introduction of the law and are demanding that the regulation be withdrawn. Some 450,000 people in Adıyaman and Malatya live by tobacco cultivation. They fear that the new regulation will cause them to lose their only means of livelihood.