“Today, we are facing a renewable energy revolution all over the world; countries that are investing in polluting, obsolete technologies are going to suffer in the future from external costs such as forest and agricultural damage and increases in cancer deaths. Coal power plants, nuclear waste-producing thermal power plants, cement factories and asbestos ship dismantling establishments can also be placed in this category,” said Tanay Sýdký Uyar, who has been working for the adoption of environmentally friendly energy policies in Turkey.
Towards the end of January, the EU set a target of a 40 percent cut in carbon emissions and for renewables to make up 27 percent of energy use by 2030. Environmentally sensitive observers evaluated the targets as an unambitious climate and energy framework, but for Turkey, which has no targets set for emission reduction, even this will be quite a struggle.
Uyar blames all Turkish governments equally for supporting fossil fuel-based technologies.
“All governments so far in Turkey have been in favor of making fossil fuel agreements with other countries; they have fully supported hydropower investments which separate water from the soil and force citizens to leave their agricultural land and terminate farming activities; they have always supported the construction of nuclear waste-producing thermal plants in Turkey, differently to other countries which are decommissioning their existing nuclear power plants and looking for waste storage areas,” he said.
Uyar elaborated further on the issue in response to our questions.
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Is this possible without changing Turkey's current political system, which does not allow candidates to have environmentally sensitive agendas?
If the new constitution becomes a reality -- which would allow every citizen to be part of the decision making process along with their own information, expectations and demands, and if the problems of the country are discussed in Parliament with the participation of the representatives of the citizens elected with a more democratic election law -- I am optimistic that the citizens of Turkey have the ability to bring forward environmentally sensitive agendas.
“The governing party does not want any policies or citizens to interfere with its decisions” Do Turkish political parties have any environmental policies to offer?
Unfortunately, political parties in Turkey do not make any evaluations regarding the future of the energy systems in Turkey. The governing political party does not want any policies or citizens to interfere with its decisions. If Turkey wants to join the European Union, it should be a part of the Aarhus convention in order to facilitate citizens' access to information, public participation, and justice.
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