MV GREENPEACE BLOCKS THE HARBOUR OF CHLORINE/PVC PRODUCER PETKIM IN TURKEY
Greenpeace Wins Support of Petkim Workers' Union

18 August 2000

Aliaga, Turkey - Nine Greenpeace activists including the captain of the MV Greenpeace were arrested today when the Greenpeace ship blocked the harbour of the Petkim PVC complex in Aliaga, Turkey. The activists on board the MV Greenpeace are still proceeding with the action and refuse to leave the harbour. Greenpeace is demanding a phase- out leading to ban on the production and importation of PVC. In a highly confrontational action at sea, the Petkim tugboat struggling to remove the MV Greenpeace sprayed the activists on the ship and those in inflatables with water canons. One security guard jumped into an inflatable to handcuff the three activists inside the zodiac that was caught between the ship and the Petkim boat.

Four of the activists who were on the smokestacks inside the high security plant attempting to hang a banner were treated violently by Petkim security as they descended. The confrontation between Greenpeace activists and Petkim lasted over five hours. Greenpeace was demanding a meeting together with Petkim and the workers' union. This is the second action in the MV Greenpeace Mediterranean tour that the organisation carried out against Petkim which manufactures PVC, chlorine and other chemicals which are used as raw material in various industrial processes. Another banner drawing attention to the hazardous toxic waste generated by Petkim is being placed at the mouth of the plant's waste canal that receives more than twenty-six tonnes of wastewater daily. All toxic effluents flow directly into the Mediterranean Sea.

"Greenpeace is especially concerned about the organochlorines generated and emitted into the environment during the production of PVC and the incineration of hazardous waste on site," said Tolga Temuge, Greenpeace toxics campaigner in Turkey. "The polluting production processes at the Petkim complex are destroying the environment and endangering the health of the workers and the people in the area." In 1997, the Petroleum Affairs Union Aliaga Branch approached Greenpeace to investigate the hazards workers at the Petkim plant were facing. In response to this request, Greenpeace took hair samples from the workers at the Chlorine plant in Aliaga and the scientific analysis revealed elevated levels of mercury. Members of the Petroleum Affairs Union today showed strong support to Greenpeace efforts to stop Petkim's polluting production processes.

In its long-standing campaign against Petkim, Greenpeace discovered two illegal uncontrolled dumpsites at both complexes in Yarimca and Aliaga. They were both highly contaminated with a variety of toxic chemicals (1). Greenpeace also sampled the seawater and sediment around both complexes and once again discovered elevated levels of mercury and organochlorines. Samples taken from a canal, which receives waste from the plant manufacturing VCM, revealed dioxins at a level ten times higher than the samples taken from similar factories in the UK and the USA (2). The manufacture of VCM, which is used as raw material for PVC production, is known to be one of the most polluting stages in the production cycle. Samples taken by Greenpeace of the toxic waste pumped into the environment by Petkim repeatedly revealed substances that are included as priority contaminants for elimination from discharges into the sea under Annex 1 of the Land-Based Sources Protocol in the "Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and Coastal Region of the Mediterranean."

"In an effort to minimise criticism against its environmental and safety track record, the Petkim management, last July, announced the replacement of mercury with membrane in its production. This is a direct admission by Petkim of the hazards placed on workers' health and the environment through the use of mercury over the years. Petkim actually reduced its energy costs and increased its production capacity by shifting to membrane. Yet, no indication was given by the Petkim management of any compensation to be given to workers or of any measures to be taken to redress the environmental destruction the company is responsible for," said Temuge.

This is the second time this week that Greenpeace has targeted Petkim as an example of the environmental abuse and health hazards generated by the chemical industry. Last Tuesday, twelve Greenpeace activists were arrested for an action carried out at Petkim's plant in Yarimca. Petkim security turned violent and actually pushed two activists into the polluted water surrounding the plant. The focus of the MV Greenpeace Mediterranean tour is to pressure governments in the region to ratify the Barcelona Convention (1). Greenpeace is demanding that Mediterranean governments replace rhetoric with effective measures that will safeguard the Mediterranean legacy.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
- Caroline Muscat, Campaign & Communications Director, Greenpeace Mediterranean. Tel: 00356-490784/5 Fax: 00356-490782

2 - Dioxin is carcinogenic and it is also linked to reproductive disorders, endocrine disruption and negatively affects the immune system. The sample taken at Petkim contained between 6 and 7 thousand times more than uncontaminated soil.

3 - The Barcelona Convention includes six protocols, which, if implemented, would lead to the effective protection of the Mediterranean Sea. Today, all Mediterranean states, including the European Union, are members of the Convention. For twenty-five years, the Convention has been written and rewritten whilst governments have taken no effective measures to curb the Mediterranean meltdown. The Convention is clearly under threat of becoming a political goal that member states are only promising to ratify in the distant future.