Beloved Akkuyu, for the sake of what?

Surprise! He would not have missed this opportunity but for whatever reason, he did not attend the groundbreaking ceremony of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant on April 14. He would have delivered a long speech and we would have learned from him the virtues of nuclear power plants, the ones the world has given up… 

Now here are some of the merits of this power plant: 

The Russians will set up a VVER-1200 type reactor in Akkuyu. The Turkish Atomic Energy Authority (TAEK) wrote to parliament on March 2, 2011, “There is no operating model of the VVER-1200 type reactors.” It is nowhere else in the world but in Turkey. Our country serves as a guinea pig. 

In Western countries, a kilowatt-hour of electricity produced in nuclear power plants costs between 4 and 4.5 cents; however, in Akkuyu, it is 12.35 cents. It is the most expensive electricity in the world after Japan. 

A Russian firm, with 100 percent Russian capital, will construct and manage the power plant. We have no say in the company. The power plant is here but its owner is Russian.

The land in Akkuyu was given to the Russians free of charge. The Russians will set up a center for 10,000 people there. There will be special privileges regarding their exits and entries into Turkey and their settlements in Akkuyu, like at the American İncirlik base. 

Also, another Russian company will provide the nuclear fuel for the power plant. 

‘We will f--k the nation’ 

The cost of the power plant is incredibly expensive: $22 billion. 

An $8 billion portion of the power plant is being constructed by a construction firm we all know very well. It is the firm of the businessman Mehmet Cengiz, who once said, “We will f--k the nation.” The power plant, with its nuclear damage to nature and to animal and human genes, will surely have an effect on the future generations. 

The Ecemiş earthquake fault line is 25 kilometers away from the power plant. The answer to this issue? “There is no investment with zero risks.”

Objections to the cancellation of environmental assessment reports are still in the courts, as justice has not been decided yet. Despite this, the foundations of the power plant were laid yesterday. Once more, we have to ask, “Where is justice?”

Our dependence on Russia for natural gas is 64 percent. For oil, it’s 33 percent and now, this nuclear power plant. What will Russia give us in return for this much dependency? What will be the cost of all this? 

The opposition has filed 43 parliamentary questions regarding Akkuyu; there is no satisfactory reply to any of them. The cost of all this is a secret, hidden in the seven-hour one-on-one talk between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan two years ago. 

‘301 present’ 

The chief of justice is very young, and he is quite new to the profession. The first hearing of the Soma coal mine disaster, where 301 mine workers lost their lives, just started the other day, 11 months after the disaster. Nearly as year has passed; look at the speed of justice. 

The young judge wrote to the Ministry of Justice on March 18, 2015, asking for the defendants under arrest to be brought to court. The Ministry of Justice overruled the court’s request, answering, “Bringing the defendants to court is problematic in terms of security.” 

The relatives of the victims, 465 children and 255 wives, stood up and protested, “Our fathers and husbands did not have workplace security either. What good is your security?” It is only good for potential protests. They were afraid there would be demonstrations. If unknown forces do not interfere, then on April 15, the defendants will be present at the hearing.

Most of the children and wives wear black t-shirts with the phrase “301 are here” written on them. Well, the 301 are there, but where is the investigation report about the public employees involved in the disaster? Which civil servant was negligent? Was the investigation allowed or not? If yes, then what were the results? If an investigation was not allowed, then what was the reason? Eleven months have passed, and still nobody knows. The young chief justice has asked about that as well. 

The hearing is being held in Akhisar, a district in the Aegean province of Manisa. Another is added to Turkey’s justice scenes in Akhisar. The families of the 301 victims who lost their lives in Soma are struggling against major social and economic tremors, constituting a whole separate story.