Greenpeace Protests against Putin-Erdoğan Meeting

On Thursday, 6 August, two Greenpeace members, Perihan Pulat and Buğra Erol, were taken into police custody after staging a protest against the meeting between Russian and Turkish Prime Ministers Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the Prime Minister's Residence in Ankara.

"No thanks"

They had opened a placard reading "Nuclear? No thanks".

Other members of Greenpeace staged a protest in the Güven Park in the capital city.

"Chernobyl is the proof"

Korol Diker of Greenpeace's Mediterranean Energy Campaign said about the protest "Unsurprisingly, nuclear energy will come from Putin's visit. That is dangerous, expensive and relies on outside countries."

"The nuclear lobby says that nuclear energy is clean and safe. Yes, nuclear energy has been tested and has proven itself as a source of energy. But the place where it proved itself was Chernobyl."

He added, "The unsolved safety issues are not the only problem with nuclear energy. There are also problems of cost, of waste, of limited life spans and the cost of dismantling power stations."

Diker also spoke about the bid for the construction of nuclear power stations. He said, "This illegal bid should have been cancelled long ago. As Erdoğan is insisting on continuing with polluting and expensive nuclear energy, he should not forget that the billions of lira being spent belong to the people."

Nuclear matrushkas

The protesters in Güven Park had prepared Matrushka dolls. Thus, a Putin doll emerged from inside a doll of Erdoğan. When the Putin doll was opened, skulls and nuclear symbols came out.

When they were told to move out of the park, the demonstrators moved to the Milli Müdafaa Street, where they read out a statement:

"Putin has come to Turkey to talk about energy issues, and a bid for nuclear power stations is among the topics of discussion. It is clear who will lose from this bargain." (BÇ/AG)

* This news item used information from greenpeace.org and turnusol.biz