Greenpeace international has sent a letter to Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer urging him to return the country’s new Environment Law to the Grand National Assembly.

Greenpeace said in its letter that some articles in the law were in the nature of pardoning environmental offences rather than protecting the environment. Greenpeace also launched a “Stop-This-Law” campaign over the internet to petition the president.

Noting that the temporary article in the law allowing for deference to environmental offences are unacceptable, Greenpeace said “with a new article added to the law, especially with the horrible scandal that has taken place in Tuzla, the hypocrisy of the Ministry has once again been clearly portrayed. While a company that causes a massacre of the environment goes unpunished, the new deference article and a law that is insufficient are far from finding a solution in the long term to environment crimes”.

Greenpeace also said that offering mine and petroleum explorations exemptions from the Environment Effect Evaluation (CED) reports was a green light for another environment crime. (KO/EO/II