Yıldız praises court’s nuclear plant decision

KAYSERİ - Doğan News Agency

Taner Yıldız. DHA photo

The constitutional court’s recent decision not to cancel a law permitting the construction of a nuclear plant in the south of Turkey is an important response to opposition criticism on the issue, according to Energy Minister Taner Yıldız.

“This is a good example of Turkey’s development being supported not only by the government and the Parliament, but also by the judiciary,” Yıldız told journalists yesterday ahead of Kayserispor football club’s general assembly in the Central Anatolian province of Kayseri. With the decision, nuclear plants have become a state policy and the attitude will not change with shifts in government, Yıldız said, while thanking the Supreme Court for the decision. Recalling disputes between the government and the Court some 10 years ago, Yıldız said the decision “shows a change in the country’s mindset.”

Responding to a question on there being no change in the country’s oil refiner Tüpraş’s prices, despite a sharp fall in global crude prices, Yıldız said this derived from the U.S. dollar’s gain against the Turkish Lira.

New York’s main contract, West Texas Intermediate crude for July, dived $3.30 to close at $83.23 a barrel on June 1, a price last seen in October. The same day in London, Brent North Sea crude cut below the $100 level, plunging $3.44