Turkish gendarmes detained some 20 people, including five 14-year-old teenagers and a 90-year-old woman, on Wednesday after local residents blocked heavy machinery from entering a mining exploration site in northern Turkey’s Black Sea highlands, the Cumhuriyet daily reported. Gendarmes erected a security barrier and ordered the protesters to leave the company’s work area, warning that gathering there and obstructing the drilling operation constituted offenses. The protesters responded by applauding and linking arms before gendarmes intervened and detained approximately 20 people. The detainees included Şükriye Çınar, a 90-year-old environmental campaigner known locally as “Şükriye Anne” (Mother Şükriye), as well as members of the Korgan Aybastı Kabataş Environmental Association. The confrontation was the latest development in a dispute over mining exploration in Turnalık, a highland area in north Ordu’s Korgan district.