Bursa, 6 and 7 October. 'Monster in Bursa'. This is how the local press announced the arrival of the GMO tomato in Bursa, the fourth city of Turkey with a population of more than one million people. As in Izmit we were again wholeheartedly welcomed by local members of the platform 'GDO'ya HAYIR' (NO TO GMOs), who kindly offered us beds and meals in their homes. In Bursa the platform consist of an interesting mix of people, such as students, farmers, businessmen , docters and engineers. All of them work as volunteers, just like the other members of the Platform around the country.

The way in which Turkish civil society has organised this campaign is quite impressive. In less than half a year a network was built that reaches out to every corner of this huge country with its enormous cultural, regional and socio-economic differences. More than 30 organisations are member of the platform. These organisations include the most important national environmental NGO's, consumers organisations and student organisations as well as many local associations of farmers. Yesterday we had a long conversation with Arca (speak out as 'Ardja'), one of the driving forces behind the platform. He explained to us that the platform is quite unique, since it is common in Turkey that civil society operates very divided. But on the GMO issue this is not the case. One of the reasons migh be that Turkey has a very strong foodculture, that is shared by everybody, regardless of their religion and political beliefs. Turkish people are very proud of their local food and skipping a meal is almost considered a sin. And it seems that Turkish people are not prepared to give up their food culture for the sake of the profits of large multinational corporations.

Today and yesterday in Bursa it became again obvious how strong the Turkish people feel about the protection of their food against GMOs. In two days time almost 8500 inhabitants of Bursa signed the petition 'No to GMOs'. Also, there was again massive interest from the local press. Ten journalists from local newspapers and three local TV stations showed up. Today the local newspapers were full of colourful pictures of the tomato and many indepth articles about GMOs were published as well. Meanwhile, the debate about GMOs also continues to fascinate the national press. Yesterday there was a long background documentary on NTV, one of the major and more serious national Turkish TV stations, that focussed mainly the risks of GMOs.

It is quite amazing that one tomato is capable of triggering such a big debate.