Turkish Environment Minister Murat Murom said on Friday that Turkey refused to enter a Brazilian ship in its territorial waters that was initially scheduled to be dismantled at a shipyard in the west of the country.
The Turkish minister said, “It was decided to cancel the conditional approval given to the ship “Nay São Paulo” and the ship will not be allowed to enter Turkish territorial waters.”
He explained that the Brazilian authorities did not fulfill the conditions requested by Turkey, such as conducting a second inspection of the ship and handing over a “list of dangerous materials” to the Turkish Ministry, stressing that “we have not yet allowed any measures that would harm our environment or our people.”
The first announcement of the dismantling of the former Brazilian military aircraft carrier in the port of Aliaga on the western side of Turkey, sparked sharp reactions from non-governmental organizations, and the opposition, which expressed fears of land and sea pollution with asbestos.
The environmental protection group “Children of Nature” (Duyanin Chokoklari) expressed in a tweet on Twitter its satisfaction with the decision. “We have stopped the poisonous ship São Paulo,” she said in a statement. This ship was stopped because we were together and determined.”
This group was one of several NGOs that called for a demonstration once morest the docking of the ship in Turkey.
Asbestos, known to be a carcinogen, was banned in Turkey in 2006, but workers in a number of sectors, including ship-breaking, are still exposed to it, according to Turkish media.
The ship’s fate has turned into a test of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s commitment to the environment ahead of next year’s elections.
Opinion polls suggest that environmental issues might be decisive for the millions of young Turks who will vote for the first time in 2023.
(AFP)
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