Turkey: Civil soceity protests nuclear plants

Singers, actors and intellectuals opposing the building of nuclear power plants in Turkey have sent a statement to parliament. On 26 April, there will be a demonstration in Kadiköy, Istanbul.

The Global Action Group (KEG) has organised a campaign to protest against the introduction of nuclear energy to Turkey and calls on parliamentarians to support the exploitation of renewable energy sources.

Members of the group, among them many well-known singers, actors and intellectuals, have written to parliament and have listed their arguments against nuclear energy:

• Every nuclear power plant creates waste, and no country has yet to find a satisfactory solution for that waste. It represents an ecological problem, whether it be buried or thrown into the sea.
• Nuclear power plants are dangerous. Like everywhere else, people in Turkey still remember the disaster of Chernobyl. Should there be a leak in a power plant, all living beings in a wide radius would be affected, people would die or become ill, and ecosystems would be wiped out.
• Nuclear power plants are not sensible investments. While it takes around 5 billion dollars to build one, building delays can make the costs spiral. For Turkey, wind and solar energy are alternatives which would make financial and environmental sense. They are not being exploited sufficiently at the moment, but that is no excuse for not rethinking the country?s energy policy.
• Instead of nuclear power plants, Turkey needs energy efficiency and conservation.

On 26 April, the anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, an anti-nuclear demonstration will take place in Kadiköy, Istanbul.