Illegal Operation of Turkish Coal-Power Plants Protested

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GREENPEACE PROTESTS ILLEGAL OPERATION OF TURKISH POWER PLANTS
Government again violates court decision to close three
polluting coal power plants

Gokova, Turkey, 17 August 1998 - Greenpeace activists and local
groups today protested peacefully against the illegal operation
of three coal-powered pants in the Aegean region that are called
the "deadly triangle".

Local activists and members of the international crew of the
Greenpeace ship "Sirius" carried a 80-meter long banner in front
of the Gokova plant.

Copies of all court and other official decisions to shut down
the plants in Gokova, Yatagan and Yenikoy were plastered on the
banner. One Greenpeace activist dressed as a "Statue of Justice"
with her scale weighed the Energy and Environment Ministers'
shameless conduct against the law (1). The middle of the very
long banner read "The law is the law - Stop Gokova!"

Last June, the judicial "State Council" rejected an appeal by
the ministries of energy, health and environment, by the utility
company TEAS and by the Mugla Governor's Office. By doing so it
approved again the two-year-old Aydin 1. Administrative Court
decision ordering the closure of the three polluting plants.
Later, the "State Council" also approved a similar decision only
on Gokova. The authorities ignored both court rules.

The Ministry of Energy and TEAS have been operating the Yatagan,
Yenikoy and Gokova plants near city of Mugla for many years
without any of the requisite licenses, polluting the environment
and threatening the health of the people (2). The plants emit
among other things huge amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2), a gas
responsible for the global warming of the Earth and subsequent
dramatic climate changes.

After the first two plants started to destroy agriculture areas
and forests and effect the health of the people in the Mugla
region, Turkish President Suleiman Demirel, said in 1992 in his
function as Premier at the Rio Earth Summit in Brazil that the
Gokova project would be stopped. (3) The area is one of the most
beautiful bays of the Aegean with a great potential of tourism,
agriculture and a rich natural heritage.

Melda Keskin, energy campaigner of the Greenpeace Mediterranean
Office, said in Gokova: "The Turkish people are victimised by
the incompetent conduct of the authorities. The officials are
wasting people's money on inefficient and polluting power
plants, and then they are violating the court orders to shut
these down. The ministers of energy and environment should
either resign or do their jobs properly."

"Turkey has enough installed power, but a neglected distribution
system. The authorities cannot blame anybody but themselves for
the current electricity problems. Turkey must stop investing in
dangerous coal and nuclear power plants and utilise the vast
potential of energy efficiency and renewables like sun, wind,
biomass and geothermal," she added.

Greenpeace Mediterranean has been campaigning against the
polluting fossil power plants in the region. In 1994 the message
was "Keep your promise!", in 1996 it was "Enough is Enough".

For more information please contact in Istanbul Melda Keskin,
energy campaigner of the Greenpeace Mediterranean Office
(mobile) ++90 532 3243204; or Dr. Mario Damato, Executive
Director of Greenpeace Mediterranean in Malta, ++356-667167.
Emails: mkeskin@diala.greenpeace.org
gpmedite@diala.greenpeace.org Greenpeace on the Internet:
www.greenpeace.org

NOTES:

1. The Article 138/4 of the Constitution of the Turkish Republic
says: "Legislative, executive and administrative authorities are
obliged to obey the decision of the courts. These authorities
can never change and delay the implementation of courts'
decision."

2. They burn poor quality coal with a high percentage of ash,
sulphur and uranium. All three have a capacity to burn 40,000
tons of coal per day (more than what the city of Mugla consumes
in one year). They discharge daily 13,000 tons of bottom ash and
150 tons of fly-ash containing uranium along with flue gas
containing high levels of toxic gases.

Four years ago, there was a radiation alarm at the city of Mugla
due to the high uranium content of the coal used at the power
plants. The Aydin Administrative Court shut down the Yatagan
coal power plant on March 24, 1994, however, the authorities
used electricity shortages to intimidate the people and eight
days later restarted the plant.

3. The Aydin Administrative court ordered their closure on June
20, 1996, but the Turkish Council of Ministers annulled this
order on September 11, 1996.

4. On 17 July 1985, Demirel was quoted as saying in the daily
Milliyet: "To reject a power plant at Gokova is not to reject
electricity. Turkey needs energy. I know how it works. But to
build the power plant there is wrong. The plant will destroy
nature."

5. Turkey uses 2.5 times more energy per unit of Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) than the average member country of the
Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Between 1973 and 1995, while European countries improved their
average energy efficiency by 24 per cent, there was absolutely
no improvement in Turkey. In 1996, the cost of a wasteful use of
energy was 4.5 billion dollars, equalling what Turkey spent on
all imported energy resources a year earlier. Transmission and
distribution losses are increasing and the scandalous 30 percent
loss is about 5 times the normally achievable standard of 6-6.5
percent.

END