Day: August 13, 2019

Hundreds of tourists, many of them young Westerners, sat on gray stone steps atop the world’s largest Buddhist temple, occasionally checking cellphones or whispering to each other as they waited for daylight.

Sunrise wasn’t spectacular on that recent summer day. But even an ordinary dawn at Borobudur Temple — nine stone tiers stacked like a wedding cake and adorned with hundreds of Buddha statues and relief panels — provided a memorable experience.

The 9th century temple is in the center of Indonesia’s Java island, a densely populated region with stunning vistas. Other highlights include the towering Hindu temple complex of Prambanan, like Borobudur a UNESCO World Heritage site, and Mount Merapi, the country’s most active volcano, whose lava-covered slopes are accessible by jeep.

While the two temples draw many visitors, other foreigners head to the relaxing beaches of Bali, just east of Java and by far the most popular tourist destination in a nation of thousands of islands and almost 270 million people. More than 6 million tourists visited Bali last year, or about 40 percent of 15.8 million visitors to Indonesia overall, according to official figures.

Recently reelected President Joko Widodo wants to change this dynamic by pushing ahead with “10 new Balis,” an ambitious plan to boost tourism and diversify Southeast Asia’s largest economy.

Key to the plan is to upgrade provincial airports and improve access to outlying destinations, such as Lake Toba on Sumatra island, more than 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) from Jakarta, the capital. Yogyakarta, the provincial city from where visitors head to Borobudur and Prambanan, is getting a second airport, expected to be fully operational later this year.

Widodo has been promoting his plan in meetings with foreign leaders and in recent interviews, including with The Associated Press, in hopes of encouraging foreign investment. The president of the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation told the AP in late July that as part of his push, he would like to see more business ties with the Middle East.

“For investment and tourism, we would like to invite investors from the Middle East as much as possible because … we have many tourism locations in Indonesia, not only one or two or four, but many,” said Widodo. He did not give specifics.

Muslim tourists, including from the Middle East, might also be an easier fit for some of the more conservative areas earmarked for tourism development. Tourism officials have played down the possibility of cultural friction that might accompany the influx of more non-Muslim visitors, arguing that Indonesia’s brand of tolerant Islam can accommodate everyone.

“Maybe there are some particular locations that are very strict (religiously),” said Hiramsyah Thaib, who heads the “10 New Balis” initiative. “We believe we won’t have any problems. Sometimes we have problems in the media, but not in reality.”

Yet Islamic hard-liners have become more assertive in recent years, potentially spooking investors by undermining Indonesia’s image as a moderate nation. Thaib said he believes investor confidence rose “significantly” after Widodo defeated former special forces general Prabowo Subianto in April’s presidential election. Subianto had been backed by Muslim groups favoring Shariah law.

The tourism plan remains key to Widodo’s final five-year term, though at least one target — 20 million visitors this year — appears to have been too ambitious. The 2019 visitor tally is expected to be 18 million, based on current growth figures, said Thaib.

Still, the Indonesian tourism sector grew by 7.8 percent in 2018, or twice the global average, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council.

One of the 10 sites earmarked for development is the Borobudur Temple area and nearby Yogyakarta, a city of several hundred thousand people that is embedded in a large metro area. The city is a center of Javanese culture and a seat of royal dynasties going back centuries.

In 2017, former President Barack Obama and his family visited the city, where his late mother, Ann Dunham, spent years doing anthropological research. Obama, who lived in Indonesia as a child, toured Borodbudur and Prambanan during the nostalgic trip.

But while the Obamas got around with relative ease, including private jet travel, ordinary visitors struggle with congested streets packed with motorbikes weaving in and out of slow-moving traffic.

Travelers hoping to be in place at Borobudur just before sunrise need at least 90 minutes to get there from Yogyakarta, a journey of 40 kilometers (24 miles). A 230-kilometer (140-mile) round trip to the Dieng highlands, with terraced fields, small temples and a colorful volcanic lake, requires a full day of travel, some of it on bumpy back roads.

Anton McLaughlin, a 55-year-old visitor from York, England, said he was astounded by the number of motorbikes in the streets. Speaking during a jeep tour of the slopes of Mount Merapi, he said he’s become more aware of the natural disasters Indonesians endure regularly. Indonesia straddles the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and is prone to earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions. Merapi’s last major eruption in 2010 killed 347 people, and the ruins of one destroyed hamlet were part of the tour.

“People just seem to crack on with life,” McLaughlin said.

Just a day after his tour, the volcano shot out hot clouds and lava that flowed 2,000 meters (6,560 feet) down its slopes. No casualties or damage were reported.

Jan Tenbrinke, 37, from Zwolle in the Netherlands, said Bali is the next stop for his family of four, but that he hoped to get a better sense of Indonesian culture in Yogyakarta.

In the city, tourists can visit workshops for Batik textiles, silver jewelry and Kopi Luwak — coffee made from partially digested coffee cherries that were eaten and defecated by wild tree cats, or civets. Billed as the “world’s most expensive coffee,” Kopi Luwak became known to a wider audience in the 2007 Jack Nicholson-Morgan Freeman movie “The Bucket List.”

Local museums, including two royal palaces and a former Dutch fort, pose a challenge for foreign visitors eager to learn more about local history and culture because they mostly lack easily accessible explanations in English.

Thaib, the tourism official, acknowledged that there is room for improvement. He said Indonesia is determined to catch up to other Asian nations, including Thailand, which he said began developing their tourism industries much sooner.

“There is still a lot of work,” he said of his nation’s efforts. “We believe we are on the right track.”

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Updated: Aug. 13, 2019, 3:06 p.m. 

Suzanne Sataline contributed to this report from Hong Kong

Riot police clashed with pro-democracy demonstrators at the Hong Kong’s international airport Tuesday evening, with all departing flights cancelled for a second straight day.

The protestors once again took over the facility’s main terminal, with periodic skirmishes with helmeted police wielding batons.

Scuffles broke out between police and demonstrators as medics took an injured person out of the terminal. A contingent of riot police used pepper spray to disperse protesters as they tried to block an ambulance taking the man away. Police detained at least two people.

Hong Kong’s airport authority said operations had been “seriously disrupted.”

The airport protests over the past two days are part of 10 weeks of demonstrations by Hong Kong residents against their perceived erosion of freedom and lack of autonomy under Chinese control of the territory.

China’s United Nations mission said the protesters had smashed public facilities, paralyzed the airport, blocked public transport and used lethal weapons, “showing a tendency of resorting to terrorism.”

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet urged Hong Kong authorities to exercise restraint and investigate whether their forces fired tear gas at protesters in ways that are banned under international law.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who last week took a hands-off stance on the protests, told reporters the Hong Kong situation “is a very tough situation, very tough. We’ll see what happens, but I’m sure it will work out….” He expressed the hope that no one would get hurt and “for liberty.”

“I hope it works out for everybody, including China, by the way,” Trump said.

In a later remark on Twitter, Trump said, “Our Intelligence has informed us that the Chinese Government is moving troops to the Border with Hong Kong. Everyone should be calm and safe!” State-run media showed videos of security forces gathering across the border in Mainland China. 

The protests present the biggest challenge to Chinese rule of the semi-autonomous territory since its 1997 handover from Britain. 

The decision by the airport authority to cancel Tuesday’s out-bound flights came just minutes after it suspended all passenger check-in services when protesters blocked passengers from entering their departure gates, and advised the general public not to come to the airport.  

The airport was already struggling to return to normal after reopening a day after hundreds of flights in and out of the airport were cancelled by a similar sit-in demonstration. Some angry travelers anxious to leave Hong Kong got into heated arguments with protesters as Tuesday’s demonstrations escalated, with some managing to push their way through the protest lines.  

The unprecedented shutdown of one of the world’s busiest airports was an extension of the street protests that have gripped the Chinese territory for more than two months. Dozens of protesters were injured Monday after riot police fired tear gas and non-lethal ammunition after the protesters blocked roads and defied police orders to disperse.

The government counted 54 people injured Monday, including two who were hospitalized in serious condition, and 28 who were listed as stable, according to the Hospital Authority.

The protests began as a quest to stop a bill that would have allowed Hong Kong to send criminal suspects elsewhere, including mainland China. Demonstrators are now demanding the the right to directly vote for their next leader in a free and fair election, and an independent inquiry into alleged police brutality.

Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s embattled leader, defended police during a press conference Tuesday, saying they had to make “on-the-spot decisions” under “extremely difficult circumstances.”  Lam said she would address the protesters’ demands “after the violence has been stopped and the chaotic situation that now we are seeing could subside.”

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Cameroon has threatened all journalists who it says are refusing to be patriotic, after TV reporter Samuel Wazizi was arrested for allegedly supporting separatist fighters in Cameroon’s English-speaking north, west, and southwest regions. The journalists say it is becoming impossible for them to practice their profession, as they face pressure from both separatist fighters and the government.

Paul Atanga Nji, territorial administration minister, says Cameroon’s journalists are becoming highly unpatriotic.

“They have one main objective, just to sabotage government action, to promote secessionist tendencies,” said Nji. “I urge them to be responsible. Those who do not want to respect the laws will be booked as being recalcitrant and will be treated as such.”

Atanga Nji also says most journalists support the opposition and believe that President Paul Biya was not the true winner of the October 2018 presidential election.

Macmillan Ambe, president of the Cameroon Association of English Speaking Journalists, CAMASEJ, says the threat from the government is one of many that journalists have faced since the separatist crisis began in 2016.

He says journalists should be given the freedom they need to do their work.

“When you get the minister of territorial administration giving lessons to journalists on how to report, it just adds to some of the difficulties we are already facing,” said Ambe. “We are subjected to torture, be it physical or psychological. We have also had cases of several journalists who are being called up for questioning, so it becomes very difficult for us to operate.”

Ambe was abducted by separatist fighters in the city of Bamenda last February after he criticized their call for families not to send their children to school.

More recent threats came after Samuel Waziz, an announcer at Chillen Music Television who has hosted shows critical of the government, was arrested by the military. His lawyers said he was accused of hosting separatist fighters in his farm, an allegation he dismissed.

Journalist Promise Akanteh of Royal FM, a radio station in Yaounde who also hosts critical programs, says she has been threatened several times within the past two weeks.

“I have had several phone calls threatening me. Do you know that your daughter still needs you? I said, ‘yes, sir.'” So be careful with what you say on air.  I do not know who was calling,” said Akanteh. “The person threatens me and says be careful with what you say on air. I am telling you this, another person will not be this nice to you.”

The separatists launched their fight in 2017, after English-speakers protested political and economic discrimination in the majority French-speaking country. The government reacted with a crackdown in November 2017 and since then, 2,000 people have been killed, according to the United Nations.

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Uganda is ramping up efforts to curtail online content deemed immoral or hateful, a move critics say will silence dissent.

Since March 2018, the Uganda Communications Commission,  a state regulator, has required certain online publishers to register and pay a fee of $20 per year.

Now, the government is expanding its enforcement of the regulation, levying the fee on news organizations and social media influencers with large followings, including some journalists, celebrities, musicians and athletes.

The UCC calls these people “data communicators” and will be looking at media sites, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube to determine which users will be affected.

Catherine Anite, executive director of the Freedom of Expression Media Hub, told VOA’s Nightline Africa  that the registration requirement curbs free speech.

“It’s a very restrictive regulation,” she said. “The freedom of expression is an essential right, and it is the cornerstone of any democratic society, which I believe Uganda is, because we have ascribed to these national, regional and international freedom of expression laws.”

Anite pointed to Article 29 of Uganda’s constitution, which protects freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of belief. She said this should give Ugandans wide latitude to express themselves in any media.

“Uganda is a free society. Uganda is [a] democratic society,” she said. “So, if the constitution gives the right to enjoy freedom of expression, there shouldn’t be the clawback clauses that come in the form of policies and other restrictive laws.”

The expansion of the law comes one week after political activist Stella Nyanzi was sentenced to 18 months in prison for writing a crude poem about Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s deceased mother.

The group Unwanted Witness, which monitors digital rights, reported that 33 Ugandans have been interrogated by police or charged with making impermissible online communications between 2016 and 2018, according to Reuters.

Last year, the government introduced a tax on social media usage, charging 200 shillings — about $0.05 cents per user per day, Reuters reported.

UCC head of public relations Ibrahim Bbossa said the regulatory body hopes to make publishers and individuals with large online followings mindful of the need to uphold public morality and peace.

He said registering users is the first step to responding in the event of a problem.

“As UCC, it is upon us to put into implementation these laws so that, just in case of any problems that arise, we are able to come up with resolutions,” Bbossa told Uganda’s Daily Vision  “Online publication can lead to circumstances like inciting the public, misinformation, and at times, theft.”

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Octavia Spencer will be honored by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network with its Inspiration Award at a gala later this year.

The group known as GLSEN announced Tuesday that the star of “Hidden Figures and The Helpwill”” receive the honor at the group’s Respect Awards, presented in October in Beverly Hills, California.
 
GLSEN Executive Director Eliza Byard said in a statement that Spencer “has devoted her career to diverse storytelling, promoting social good and is a steadfast ally for the LGBTQ community.”

GLSEN was founded in 1990 to address LGBT issues in K-12 education, and has presented the Respect Awards since 2004.
 
The group’s past honorees have included Kerry Washington and Ellen Pompeo.

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 Investors piled into gold, safe-haven yen and bonds on Monday over nagging concerns about a prolonged U.S.-China trade war and global growth, while Argentina’s peso plunged 15% after voters handed its president an election mauling.

The yen rose to its highest in more than a year and a half versus the dollar on the prospect the Japanese currency could gain more in the case of a drawn-out U.S.-Sino trade conflict.

Concerns that a trade deal would not be reached before the 2020 U.S. presidential election grew after Goldman Sachs on Sunday became the latest to cut its U.S. growth outlook and warn a trade stand-off would fester past the election.

Stocks on Wall Street fell more than 1% to push a gauge of global equity performance down almost as much. Earlier in China stocks rallied more than 1% as the yuan avoided further drama after Chinese authorities allowed the yuan to slip below the seven-per-dollar level last week.

Stocks in the near term lack a catalyst either from company earnings, the Federal Reserve or a trade deal, said Rahul Shah, chief executive of Ideal Asset Management in New York.

“The promise of a trade deal coming this year, I think that’s becoming less and less likely,” Shah said. “That does set up the market possibly for a correction at this point,” he said.

Stocks could dip between 5% to 10% but prompt long-term investors to enter the market as valuations fall, he said. Half of Shah’s portfolio is corporate debt with the remainder tech stocks and shares with solid dividends, he said.

MSCI’s gauge of stock performance in 47 countries fell 0.85%, driven lower by tumbling U.S. stocks. The benchmark S&P 500 index is now almost 5% off its all-time high set just 11 sessions ago.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 391 points, or 1.49%, to 25,896.44. The S&P 500 lost 35.96 points, or 1.23%, to 2,882.69 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 95.73 points, or 1.2%, to 7,863.41.

European shares fell, with the pan-regional FTSEurofirst 300 of leading European shares closing down 0.31%, while Germany’s export-heavy DAX off 0.12%.

Germany’s Ifo survey echoed the growth concerns with its measures for current conditions and economic expectations both having worsened in the third quarter.

Gold edged up, holding above the psychological $1,500 level.

Spot gold added 1.1% to $1,512.51 an ounce.

The yen rose to its highest against the dollar since March 2018 — barring a flash crash in January — gaining 0.37% versus the greenback at 105.30 per dollar.

The euro rose 0.11% to $1.121, while the dollar index fell 0.07%.

“The longer the trade war drags on, the more likely it would weigh (on) the global outlook and crimp the world economy, a negative for market morale,” said Joe Manimbo, senior market analyst at Western Union Business Solutions.

U.S. Treasury yields dropped across the board as trade worries and political tensions around the world in places such as Hong Kong and Argentina supported safe-haven assets.

U.S. long-term yields have fallen in six of the past nine sessions, reflecting investors’ diminished risk appetite. Bond yields in Europe also were lower on the day.

Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes rose 28/32 in price to push their yield lower at 1.6386%.

The Argentine peso collapsed, falling to 55.85 to the dollar, after voters snubbed market-friendly President Mauricio Macri by giving the opposition a greater-than-expected victory in Sunday’s primary election.

The Merval stock index fell 30% and declines of between 18-20 cents in Argentina’s benchmark 10-year bonds left them trading at around 60 cents on the dollar or even lower.

The victory by Alberto Fernandez — whose running mate is former Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner — “paves the way for the return to left-wing populism that many investors fear,” consultancy Capital Economics told clients.

Oil prices rose despite worries about a global economic slowdown and the ongoing U.S.-China trade war, which has reduced demand for commodities such as crude.

International benchmark Brent crude futures rose 4 cents to settle at $58.57 a barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures gained 43 cents to settle at $54.93 a barrel.

…

South Sudan activists on Monday began a campaign to pressure the country’s warring parties to meet a fast-approaching deadline to form a unity government as part of their 2018 peace agreement. 

The Civil Society Forum, a coalition of more than 100 organizations, on Monday marked the beginning of a 90-day countdown to the November deadline for the ruling party and opposition to form a government. 

“We have not got much time left. There are a lot of tasks that need to be accomplished and business should not remain as usual,” Geoffrey Lou Duke, a member of the coalition, told AFP.

South Sudan descended into war in 2013 when President Salva Kiir accused his former deputy and fellow former rebel leader Riek Machar of plotting a coup.

The parties signed a peace deal in September for Kiir to form a government with Machar, but the sides already missed the first deadline, which was in May.  

Activists say scant progress has been made since then, including on vital security measures to stabilize a country reeling from nearly six years of conflict.  

The fighting has been marked by ethnic violence and brutal atrocities, and left about 380,000 dead while some four million have fled their homes.

Security funds

Before any unity government is formed, the parties are supposed to canton their fighters and redeploy them as part of the national army, police and other security forces. 

Foreign donors say it is up to Kiir’s administration to fund the security reforms. Parties to the peace deal say its implementation will cost $285 million but that only around $10 million has been provided.  

Machar’s party says he will not return to Juba until the security reforms are complete. 

“We have to see a sense of urgency and we do not want to see another situation where we give all sorts of excuses for having failed to form the transitional government,” Jame David Kolok, another member of the Civil Society Forum, told AFP Monday. “The campaign is to make sure every second from now onwards counts.”

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European researchers say a vaccine for chlamydia — the world’s most common sexually transmitted disease — shows promise in preliminary clinical trials, but more tests are needed.

A study in the medical journal Lancet says the vaccine triggered an immune response in tests on 35 healthy women.

The researchers say they must now determine if the vaccine can actually prevent chlamydia.

Doctors say a vaccine against the disease would have a huge impact on public health and the economy around the world.

“Given the impact of the chlamydia epidemic on women’s health, infant health through transmission, and increased susceptibility to other sexual diseases, a global unmet medical need exists for a vaccine,” said Peter Anderson, Imperial College of London professor and co-author of the study.

Although chlamydia is easily diagnosed and treated with antibiotics, such treatment has failed to curb the epidemic. About 130 million people around the world are infected every year.

Untreated, it can lead to pelvic inflammation in women and possible infertility. Chlamydia in pregnancy could cause miscarriage, stillbirth, or premature delivery. 

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Gun owners in New Zealand turned in more than 10,000 firearms in a buyback program established after the country’s worst mass shooting in modern history.

New Zealand banned most automatic and semi-automatic weapons after a gunman shot and killed 51 people and wounded scores more at two Christchurch mosques in March.

As of Sunday, 10,242 firearms had been surrendered since the program began last month. Another 1,269 have been handed in under an amnesty program that allows people to turn in their guns without any questions about how or when they obtained them, New Zealand police said Monday.

The buyback program will continue until Dec. 20. 

New Zealand lawmakers vowed to toughen the country’s gun laws after the shootings.

“On March 15, the nation witnessed a terrorist attack that demonstrated the weakness of New Zealand’s gun laws,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said at the time. “The guns used in this attack had the power to shoot continuously. The times for the easy availability of these weapons must end. And today, they will.”

A bill to ban semi-automatic weapons was introduced in parliament two weeks after the shooting. 

Australia also introduced a nationwide gun buyback program after a shooter killed 36 people in 1996. About 650,000 weapons were collected. It also banned semi-automatic and pump-action rifles and shotguns.

Since then, research has shown, Australia has had no mass shootings, and homicides and suicides by gun have both reduced dramatically.

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In a region on Turkey’s eastern Black Sea coast, around 75% of the world’s hazelnuts are grown. Throughout August, thousands of migrant workers harvest the nut. It’s a hard job under challenging conditions and offers increasingly diminishing returns for both workers and owners.

Millions of hazelnut trees cover the valleys of Ordu and Giresun provinces. Many of the trees grow on the sides of treacherous ravines, making harvesting hazelnuts hard and often dangerous work.

Pickers work seven days a week, 11 hours a day, for about $300 for the monthlong season.

Iskender, who did not want to give his full name, started picking at 15 years old.  Now 30, he is in charge of a group of pickers.

“We come here to work in a field for 15 days, and then pack everything and travel up the valley to higher villages and work another 15 days,” he said, taking a break from the arduous work.

“But we do this because of necessity,” he said. “If you are not obliged to do this, it is a misery that no one can stand.”

Like most pickers, Iskender made the 700-kilometer journey from Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish region.

There are few jobs in the region, which has been economically devastated by the Turkish army’s decadeslong war against a Kurdish insurgency.

Iskender’s mother, Mediha, works with her son. Like tens of thousands of others, mother and son were forced to evacuate their village by security forces, losing not only their home but livelihood.

“In the past, we used to do agriculture. We used to keep vineyards. We had our own work. We herded animals,”Mediha explained. “But we were left without anything, and out of necessity, we had to come here. And we work here like slaves. There is nothing we can achieve. We would be happy to go back to our village.”

Iskender, Mediha and the other pickers sleep in a cattle shed for the 30-day harvest. Most migrants are forced to stay in state-run camps.

Authorities don’t allow access to the camps, which have been criticized by monitoring groups for their poor condition. Official signs outside and inside the camps warn about the illegality of underage workers, though many working in the field appear to be under the legal age of 16. 

Many hazelnut field owners and workers are reluctant to talk about conditions.

‘No one is making money’

Field owner Hilmi Uzunlar, Iskender and Mediha’s boss, said the days of families planning weddings and other significant financial outlays around the bounty of the hazelnut harvest are long gone.

He said years of falling prices due to growing competition and increasing vagaries of climate mean no one is making money.

“The sale of hazelnuts only covers the expenses for the workers, fertilizers, maintaining the trees,” Uzunlar said. “We do the harvest, then sell the nuts, and we only break even. After that, we go back to our other jobs to provide for our families.”

Earlier this month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stepped in at the last minute to announce an increase in the price that hazelnut producers will receive. His family roots are in the Black Sea Region, which is also a crucial electoral power base.

Uzunlar grudgingly welcomed the intervention, but said it will do little to change the economics of hazelnut cultivation.

“Under these conditions, it is too obvious that the hazelnut has no future,” he said.

Alternative producers

Pressure on growers like Uzunlar is set to grow. Hazelnut buyers are seeking alternative producers to reduce their heavy dependence on Turkey.

In the past decade, the U.S. state of Oregon, using the latest technology, has doubled hazelnut production to 47,000 tons and is seeking to double output by 2025.

Turkey’s neighbor, Georgia, along with some European countries, is also expanding production. But, Turkey still dwarfs its competitors in output.

Kadir Engin, head of the Ordu Industrialists and Businessmen Association, said Turkish nuts also are superior in quality to most of its competitors.

Engin is credited in persuading Erdogan to increase this year’s price. But he warns that the region will struggle to end the current economic hardships faced by hazelnut producers.

“We can’t get efficient productivity from the old fields because we can’t use modern agricultural production,” he said. “And this causes much higher costs, as the hazelnut is picked from the branches, not from the ground.”

Engin warned that little will change, with the trees densely planted and preventing mechanized harvesting.

“There is no modern technology in producing or harvesting hazelnuts from aged, old trees,” he said. “These hazelnuts you see are from trees the same age as me — 70, 80 years old. They should be renewed. The fields should be younger.”

Changing climatic patterns could also pose a threat. Days before the harvest, the region was deluged by rain that caused widespread flooding. A week later, much of the crop would be lost, an event that has happened in recent years.

Such threats to production, analysts warn, will probably expedite hazelnut buyers’ efforts to diversify dependency on Turkey’s Ordu province.

A life without hazelnuts

Iskender dreams of a life that does not depend on hazelnuts.

“If I get a normal job with a minimum wage, I won’t come back here next year. It would be enough for me to stay at my home, to be with my kids,” he said.

But for he and Mediha, weeks of toil remain. After harvesting the hazelnuts, they will move on to central Turkey for the potato season. Iskender said it will be some time before he sees his three young children again.

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