PM: Turkey to quit chemical fertilizer production amid terror attacks, aridity concerns

ISTANBUL

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Turkey will gradually stop producing chemical fertilizers to prevent terrorist organizations from accessing the substance commonly used in producing explosives and instead increase the use of biological fertilizers in agricultural lands, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım has said. 

“Our Agriculture Ministry has worked on a plan for the use of chemical fertilizers. Chemical fertilizers may be good in increasing agricultural productivity, but they have a serious side effect. They gradually make agricultural soil arid. For that reason, we will turn our attention to biological fertilizers. Besides, chemical fertilizers include many explosive materials, such as phosphate, nitrate and ammonium. Terror organizations buy chemical fertilizers disguised as farmers, and make bombs out of these products. As a result, we will gradually halt the production of these kinds of fertilizers,” he said in a meeting with top executives of a number of key companies in Istanbul late on Nov. 4, sources close to the matter told daily Hürriyet. 

The Agriculture Ministry temporarily banned the sale of fertilizers containing ammonium nitrate after bombs hit Istanbul in the summer as well as in the southeastern provinces.   

Yıldırım also asked businesspeople to help the government improve Turkey’s image abroad. 

“Although we have told the truths about our country, some foreigners find our explanations one-sided. Your comments may be more convincing than ours. Please, tell the truths in all platforms,” he said, according to sources.
 
Upon a question regarding the arrests of Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) lawmakers during the meeting, Yıldırım said “Just as how [other opposition leaders] Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and Devlet Bahçeli went to court to testify, they had to go too. This happened because they refused to testify in courts.”