GP Head Calls on Turkey to Scrap Nuclear Plans

["greenbase" <greenbas@gb.greenpeace.org>]

HEAD OF GREENPEACE INTERNATIONAL CALLS ON TURKEY TO SCRAP
NUCLEAR PLANS

Istanbul, 17 February 1998 - The Executive Director of
Greenpeace International, Dr. Thilo Bode, appealed today to the
Turkish government to learn from the mistakes and disasters in
the West and scrap all plans to construct nuclear power plants.

Canada's AECL, the French-German Framatome-Siemens and the US-
Japanese Westinghouse-Mitsubishi consortiums last year took part
in a tender and presented bids to build Turkey's first nuclear
power plant in Akkuyu along the Mediterranean coast. Turkey
plans to construct a total of ten reactors by the year 2020.

Dr. Bode met Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources
Cumhur Ersümer in Ankara yesterday. Dr. Bode expressed his
concern over foreign companies transferring the outdated and
dangerous nuclear technology to Turkey. Greenpeace will continue
throughout the world and in Turkey its campaigns for a clean and
safe energy future which does not depend on nuclear energy and
fossil fuels, he told the minister.

"Industrialised nations are today paying a bitter price for
having set up hundreds of nuclear power plants that pose a
threat to humanity. They do not know what to do with their
nuclear waste and they are wasting billions of dollars of tax
payers' money every year," Dr. Bode said in press conference in
Istanbul today.

"Wasting money in expanding or constructing new coal and oil-
powered plants is part of the same dangerous path as nuclear
power. Burning fossil fuels will only lead to the emission of
more greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO2) and lead to
dramatic climate change."

"Greenpeace has been working on nuclear issues since it was
established in 1971, and nuclear tests have been banned in 1996.
Existing nuclear reactors all over the world must be shut down.
We believe that the end of the nuclear age heralds the beginning
of the solar age," Dr. Bode added.

Melda Keskin, energy campaigner of Greenpeace Mediterranean,
said: "The alternative in Turkey is to implement energy
efficiency programs to save electricity, modernise the outdated
grid system where much power is lost, and to introduce renewable
and non-polluting energy sources like solar, wind and biomass.
Turkey should not repeat the mistakes industrialised nations
regret today."

"Turkey is at a cross roads: On one side we have the dead-end
leading to outdated, dangerous and polluting technologies like
nuclear energy and fossil fuels. On the other side we have a
bright future with energy efficiency and renewable systems,"
Keskin said. 

The Greenpeace Mediterranean office is a regional office
responsible for Greenpeace activities in the southern and
Eastern Mediterranean. It is presently focused on Cyprus,
Israel, Lebanon and Turkey from its headquarters in Malta and
staff based in these countries. 

Dr. Bode is visiting the countries where the Greenpeace
Mediterranean Office is active. He was already in Malta. After
his three-day stay in Turkey, he will continue to Lebanon,
Cyprus and Israel. 

END

Greenpeace on the Internet at http:\\www.greenpeace.org