82 years old grandma who blocked earth digger at playground won her fight

Kiymet Peker (82) prevented the demolition in a children playground which was permitted for construction, by sitting in front of the earth digger 7 years ago. Her action back then has yielded results now. After years of litigation, the municipality bought the land and started working to build the 'Kiymet Teyze Park' (Auntie Kiymet Park) in the playground. Peker said, "I would sit in front of that earth digger even if I was 90."

Green area in the 1st Murat Neighborhood in Edirne was opened for development in 2014. The builders who came to children playground wanted to carry out demolition to start construction with earth diggers. Kiymet Peker, a neighborhood resident saw the activity of the builders and went down to the playground to block the builders work by sitting in front of the earth digger with her chair. The resistance initiated by Peker received the support of the locals in a short time. The Administrative Court later overturned the zoning decision of the City Council in the incident that resulted builders pulling the diggers back in the area.

GONNA BE 'KIYMET TEYZE' PARKUnder the leadership of Kiymet Peker, the neighborhood residents opposed the demolition of the playground and Edirne Mayor Recep Gurkan initiated a judicial process to get the title deed of the land. The title deed of the land was bought by the municipality with the agreement reached after 7 years. Gurkan said that the green area will be reorganized as a playground for children and its name will be Kiymet Teyze Park. Mayor Gurkan said, "I promised Kiymet Teyze that day, 'As long as Recep Gurkan is the mayor, no playground will be demolished in Edirne', on the contrary, we will build new ones. In this 7 years period, we increased the number of playgrounds from 45 to 130. But the area we call Kiymet Teyze Park now, title deed cases were rough process. Sometimes we won, sometimes the other side won. In brief, at the end of 7 years, all the roughnesses were cleared, the title deed of the area was taken over by the municipality, there were some problems with the zoning, all of them were resolved, and now we have fulfilled the promise we made to Auntie Kiymet and the people of Edirne 7 years ago and started the construction of Kiymet Teyze Park now. Hopefully we will complete it within a month. I will visit my aunt Kiymet at her home, kiss her hand, and get her approval to use her name. We will present it to Edirne's children and Kiymet Teyze's grandchildren within a month. We will keep the name of Kiymet Teyze alive in the name of symbolizing environmental resistance that is an example to the whole world."

'I WOULD SIT IN FRONT OF THAT EARTH DIGGER EVEN IF I WAS 90'

Kiymet Peker said she would repeat the environmentalist action she took even at the age of 90 and continued as "I would sit in front of that digger even if I was 90 years old. I said, 'a house cannot be built here, the area is too small.' I said, 'No way.' This is the children's area, the elderly are sitting. Those coming from the bazaar are resting in here. At that time, they have also removed the swings and playgrounds, they didn't do it right."

'IF THEY SAID SCHOOL, I MIGHT HAVE ALLOWED'

Stating that her only wish is to reconstruct the park where children and the elderly can spend time, Peker said, "Let our future be bright and free. I want little ones be and grow free. If they had said a school, maybe we would have allowed it, but they were destroying the playground, not for school, not for education. Where would we take the kids? I have two grandchildren, they just play with toys at home. They have to come and play, the old people have to sit. I don't want anything else. They should not build houses on these lands, let them leave some space for people, let's get some air."

'I AM PROUD OF MY MOTHER'

Kiymet Peker's daughter, Fusun Yalcinkaya stated that they are very happy that the green area will be rebuilt as a children park. Yalcinkaya said, "We waited patiently for this day to come. Our only wish was to have our park. The process took a little long actually, but we still believed with all our heart that it would be alright. Thankfully, our mayor's work brought the process to this day. I hope we will have our park soon. It will now be known as Kiymet Teyze Park. I am very proud of myself, I am proud of my mother as well," she added.

'THE ONLY PLACE WE CAN BREATHE'

Neighborhood resident Ahmet Dagci also stated that they are very happy that the area will remain green and it will be considered as a park. Dagci said, "When the digger came here, we came as residents of the site when our sister Kiymet came near the digger. We took action here with aunt Kiymet. This is a green area and the only place we can breathe. These areas are very precious. Our children and elderly people will breathe here. The more green spaces, the better. We are very happy that it remains a green space."

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