Tayyibe Demirel, 64, who is refusing to sell her olive grove to coal mining companies, prays as she stands in her olive grove in Turgut village near southwestern town of Yatagan in Mugla province, Turkey, February 24, 2021. Determined to save her land and village, Demirel has singlehandedly taken on the operators extending the mine to feed what is one of Turkey's largest power plants. She won a court case against the expansion of the mine towards her village. Her victory in court halted plans for mine expansion, but Demirel fears her six-acre property is being surrounded. "I am in love with the trees, the green. I am in love with the singing of the birds and nature. Three or four years ago, this demolished land was full of tulips, poppies and daisies. Which one is better, a hell pit or nature?" REUTERS/Umit Bektas SEARCH "UMIT COAL" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY. 

A view shows an open-pit coal mine near Turgut village at southwestern town of Yatagan in Mugla province, Turkey, February 25, 2021. Picture taken with a drone. REUTERS/Umit Bektas SEARCH "UMIT COAL" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

Tayyibe Demirel, 64, who is refusing to sell her olive grove to coal mining companies, stands at the edge of her olive grove and watches the open pit coal mine which is a few steps away in Turgut village near southwestern town of Yatagan in Mugla province, Turkey, February 25, 2021. Determined to save her land and village, Demirel has singlehandedly taken on the operators extending the mine to feed what is one of Turkey's largest power plants. She won a court case against the expansion of the mine towards her village. Her victory in court halted plans for mine expansion, but Demirel fears her six-acre property is being surrounded. "I am in love with the trees, the green. I am in love with the singing of the birds and nature. Three or four years ago, this demolished land was full of tulips, poppies and daisies. Which one is better, a hell pit or nature?" REUTERS/Umit Bektas SEARCH "UMIT COAL" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

Smoke rises from Yatagan thermal power plant near southwestern town of Yatagan in Mugla province, Turkey, February 24, 2021. Five villages have already disappeared as mines serving the Yatagan power station have expanded, and the village of Turgut is now threatened. Across the province of Mugla 5,000 hectares, the equivalent of nearly 8,000 football fields, has been lost to mining in the last four decades, campaigners say. Asked about its plans to expand the mine, Yatagan Power Plant told Reuters it has planted more than 1.5 million trees in the region and its operations respect the environment and are carried out under supervision of relevant Turkish ministries. REUTERS/Umit Bektas SEARCH "UMIT COAL" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY. 

A shows shows rotten trees in a toxic lake which is an ash dam composed of the ash produced from burning coal in Yatagan thermal power plant and the wastewater discharged also from the power plant near southwestern town of Yatagan in Mugla province, Turkey, February 24, 2021. Picture taken with a drone. REUTERS/Umit Bektas SEARCH "UMIT COAL" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY. 

Deniz Gumusel, senior consultant on environmental policy and management, chats with Aytac Yakar, a 53-year-old villager from abandoned Isikdere neighbourhood of Ikizkoy village, near southwestern town of Milas in Mugla province, Turkey, February 25, 2021. Gumusel said three coal power plants in the region caused the death of 45,000 people in the more than 40 years since the first plant came online, mostly due to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. "This is like war, against people and against forests and ecosystems," she said. But the determination of villagers and some women means there is still room for optimism, she insisted. "Women are carrying out an incredible fight against this unjust coal business. They were very successful in stopping or slowing down the progression of the mines." REUTERS/Umit Bektas SEARCH "UMIT COAL" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

Tayyibe Demirel, 64, who is refusing to sell her olive grove to coal mining companies, rests on a road side in Turgut village near southwestern town of Yatagan in Mugla province, Turkey, March 2, 2021. Behind Demirel's olive groves lies a vast, grey expanse, stripped bare by a coal mine eating into the rolling hillside. On the horizon, heavy smoke billows from three giant chimneys of the power plant by the town of Yatagan. "All the land around will be dug and plundered, and the olive grove will be stuck in the middle," Demirel said. "I object. I will continue my struggle, and seek my rights. How am I supposed to come to my field? Land here from the sky with a helicopter?" REUTERS/Umit Bektas SEARCH "UMIT COAL" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

Tayyibe Demirel, 64, who is refusing to sell her olive grove to coal mining companies, picks wild greens from her olive grove in Turgut village near southwestern town of Yatagan in Mugla province, Turkey, March 2, 2021. Behind Demirel's olive groves lies a vast, grey expanse, stripped bare by a coal mine eating into the rolling hillside. On the horizon, heavy smoke billows from three giant chimneys of the power plant by the town of Yatagan. "All the land around will be dug and plundered, and the olive grove will be stuck in the middle," Demirel said. "I object. I will continue my struggle, and seek my rights. How am I supposed to come to my field? Land here from the sky with a helicopter?" REUTERS/Umit Bektas SEARCH "UMIT COAL" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

Tayyibe Demirel, 64, who is refusing to sell her olive grove to coal mining companies, talks to children in Turgut village near southwestern town of Yatagan in Mugla province, Turkey, February 24, 2021. Behind Demirel's olive groves lies a vast, grey expanse, stripped bare by a coal mine eating into the rolling hillside. On the horizon, heavy smoke billows from three giant chimneys of the power plant by the town of Yatagan. "I have been crying every night until dawn. Six years ago, when I was picking olives, the excavators of these mining companies had not come this close," she said. REUTERS/Umit Bektas SEARCH "UMIT COAL" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

A woman burns trimmed branches of olive trees in her grove in Turgut village, near southwestern town of Yatagan in Mugla province, Turkey, March 2, 2021. REUTERS/Umit Bektas SEARCH "UMIT COAL" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

Tayyibe Demirel, 64, who is refusing to sell her olive grove to coal mining companies, is seen in her olive grove in Turgut village near southwestern town of Yatagan in Mugla province, Turkey, March 2, 2021. Picture taken with a drone. Behind Demirel's olive groves lies a vast, grey expanse, stripped bare by a coal mine eating into the rolling hillside. On the horizon, heavy smoke billows from three giant chimneys of the power plant by the town of Yatagan. "All the land around will be dug and plundered, and the olive grove will be stuck in the middle," Demirel said. "I object. I will continue my struggle, and seek my rights. How am I supposed to come to my field? Land here from the sky with a helicopter?" REUTERS/Umit Bektas SEARCH "UMIT COAL" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

Tayyibe Demirel, 64, who is refusing to sell her olive grove to coal mining companies, feeds her animals in Turgut village near southwestern town of Yatagan in Mugla province, Turkey, February 24, 2021. Behind Demirel's olive groves lies a vast, grey expanse, stripped bare by a coal mine eating into the rolling hillside. On the horizon, heavy smoke billows from three giant chimneys of the power plant by the town of Yatagan. "All the land around will be dug and plundered, and the olive grove will be stuck in the middle," Demirel said. "I object. I will continue my struggle, and seek my rights. How am I supposed to come to my field? Land here from the sky with a helicopter?" REUTERS/Umit Bektas SEARCH "UMIT COAL" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

Tayyibe Demirel, 64, who is refusing to sell her olive grove to coal mining companies, washes the dishes in the kitchen of her home in Turgut village near southwestern town of Yatagan in Mugla province, Turkey, March 2, 2021. Behind Demirel's olive groves lies a vast, grey expanse, stripped bare by a coal mine eating into the rolling hillside. On the horizon, heavy smoke billows from three giant chimneys of the power plant by the town of Yatagan. "All the land around will be dug and plundered, and the olive grove will be stuck in the middle," Demirel said. "I object. I will continue my struggle, and seek my rights. How am I supposed to come to my field? Land here from the sky with a helicopter?" REUTERS/Umit Bektas SEARCH "UMIT COAL" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

Tayyibe Demirel, 64, who is refusing to sell her olive grove to coal mining companies, rests next to a stove in her clothes shop in Turgut village near southwestern town of Yatagan in Mugla province, Turkey March 2, 2021. Behind Demirel's olive groves lies a vast, grey expanse, stripped bare by a coal mine eating into the rolling hillside. On the horizon, heavy smoke billows from three giant chimneys of the power plant by the town of Yatagan. "All the land around will be dug and plundered, and the olive grove will be stuck in the middle," Demirel said. "I object. I will continue my struggle, and seek my rights. How am I supposed to come to my field? Land here from the sky with a helicopter?" REUTERS/Umit Bektas SEARCH "UMIT COAL" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

Tayyibe Demirel, 64, who is refusing to sell her olive grove to coal mining companies, works in her clothes shop in Turgut village near southwestern town of Yatagan in Mugla province, Turkey, February 24, 2021. Behind Demirel's olive groves lies a vast, grey expanse, stripped bare by a coal mine eating into the rolling hillside. On the horizon, heavy smoke billows from three giant chimneys of the power plant by the town of Yatagan. "All the land around will be dug and plundered, and the olive grove will be stuck in the middle," Demirel said. "I object. I will continue my struggle, and seek my rights. How am I supposed to come to my field? Land here from the sky with a helicopter?" REUTERS/Umit Bektas SEARCH "UMIT COAL" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

Tayyibe Demirel, 64, who is refusing to sell her olive grove to coal mining companies, walks up the stairs of the temple of Hecate in the ancient town of Lagina, near Turgut village near southwestern town of Yatagan in Mugla province, Turkey, February 24, 2021. Behind Demirel's olive groves lies a vast, grey expanse, stripped bare by a coal mine eating into the rolling hillside. On the horizon, heavy smoke billows from three giant chimneys of the power plant by the town of Yatagan. "All the land around will be dug and plundered, and the olive grove will be stuck in the middle," Demirel said. "I object. I will continue my struggle, and seek my rights. How am I supposed to come to my field? Land here from the sky with a helicopter?" REUTERS/Umit Bektas SEARCH "UMIT COAL" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

Holes dug by archaeologists are seen in an olive grove next to the one belonging to Tayyibe Demirel, 64, who is refusing to sell her olive grove to coal mining companies, in Turgut village near southwestern town of Yatagan in Mugla province, Turkey, February 25, 2021. Determined to save her land and village, Demirel has singlehandedly taken on the operators extending the mine to feed what is one of Turkey's largest power plants. She won a court case against the expansion of the mine towards her village. Her victory in court halted plans for mine expansion, but Demirel fears her six-acre property is being surrounded. "I am in love with the trees, the green. I am in love with the singing of the birds and nature. Three or four years ago, this demolished land was full of tulips, poppies and daisies. Which one is better, a hell pit or nature?" REUTERS/Umit Bektas SEARCH "UMIT COAL" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

Archaeologists work on a site in the middle of abandoned houses and a mosque of Isikdere neighbourhood of Ikizkoy village as an open-pit coal mine is seen in the background, near southwestern town of Milas in Mugla province, Turkey, February 25, 2021. REUTERS/Umit Bektas SEARCH "UMIT COAL" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

A view shows an open-pit coal mine and olive groves of Turgut village near southwestern town of Yatagan in Mugla province, Turkey, February 25, 2021. Picture taken with a drone. REUTERS/Umit Bektas SEARCH "UMIT COAL" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

A view shows a toxic lake which is an ash dam composed of the ash produced from burning coal in Yatagan thermal power plant and the wastewater discharged from the power plant near south-western town of Yatagan in Mugla province, Turkey, February 24, 2021. Picture taken with a drone. REUTERS/Umit Bektas SEARCH "UMIT COAL" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. Picture taken with a drone. 

A view shows an open-pit coal mine and abandoned Yesilyurt village near southwestern town of Yatagan in Mugla province, Turkey, February 25, 2021. Picture taken with a drone. REUTERS/Umit Bektas SEARCH "UMIT COAL" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY. 

Tayyibe Demirel, 64, who is refusing to sell her olive grove to coal mining companies, chats with a mining company official in her olive grove in Turgut village near southwestern town of Yatagan in Mugla province, Turkey, February 24, 2021. Demirel won a new court case against the expansion of an open-pit coal mine towards her village. She's a part of "No Coal Mugla", a local movement to stop coal expansion and battle pollution. Looking over the vast lands of open coal mines, dry and grey lands neighbouring her olive grove, what she calls a "pit of hell," Demirel says: "I am in love with the trees, the green. I am in love with the singing of the birds and nature. Three or four years ago, this demolished land was full of tulips, poppies and daisies. Which one is better, a hell pit or nature?" REUTERS/Umit Bektas SEARCH "UMIT COAL" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

An olive tree stands near temple of Hecate in the ancient town of Lagina, near Turgut village at the southwestern town of Yatagan in Mugla province, Turkey, March 2, 2021. REUTERS/Umit Bektas SEARCH "UMIT COAL" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

A view shows abandoned houses and a mosque of Isikdere neighbourhood of Ikizkoy village near southwestern town of Milas, in Mugla province, Turkey, February 25, 2021. REUTERS/Umit Bektas SEARCH "UMIT COAL" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

New tombstones of a cemetery which belongs to the abandoned Yesilbagcilar village is seen near southwestern town of Yatagan in Mugla province, Turkey, March 2, 2021. When a coal mining company found coal in Yesilbagcilar village and decided to unearth it, they moved the residents of the village to a nearby area. The village's cemetery of the village was also moved. All graves are numbered. REUTERS/Umit Bektas SEARCH "UMIT COAL" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

A man enjoys a sunny day in Turgut village near southwestern town of Yatagan in Mugla province, Turkey, March 2, 2021. REUTERS/Umit Bektas SEARCH "UMIT COAL" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

A torn placard that reads "We want a Mugla without coal", hangs as a villager stands by his cow near Isikdere neighbourhood of Ikizkoy village, at the southwestern town of Milas, in Mugla province, Turkey, February 25, 2021. REUTERS/Umit Bektas SEARCH "UMIT COAL" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

A woman sits in a tractor in Turgut village near southwestern town of Yatagan in Mugla province, Turkey, March 2, 2021.REUTERS/Umit Bektas SEARCH "UMIT COAL" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES.