US embassy cable - 04ANKARA5168

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 005168 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/SE, EUR/PCI, OES/PCI, OES/ETC, OES/SAT, 
NEA/PPR 
PLEASE PASS USDA/FOREST SERVICE, EPA/OIA 
 
 
E.O.12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV, TBIO, TU 
SUBJECT: TURKEY:  AFTER FOURS YEARS, THE STATUS OF THE TOXIC 
CARGO OF THE MV ULLA HAS BEEN SOLVED - IT SANK 
 
 
1.  SUMMARY:  After nearly four years in which Turkish 
officials avoided confronting the problem, the Spanish ship 
MV Ulla, moored in Iskenderun harbor and loaded with 2.2 
tons of ash laden with toxic heavy metals, sank just days 
before it was scheduled to depart for Spain.  Environmental 
NGOs' led by Greenpeace and the captain of the ship had 
warned Turkish authorities that the risk of the ship sinking 
was were very high.  Following the sinking, Turkey's 
Forestry and Environment Ministry banned fishing in the area 
and is analyzing the damage to prepare for removing the 
toxic waste and mitigating environmental damage.  Who will 
pay has not been decided.  End Summary. 
 
A LONG PROCESS THAT DEGRADES THE VESSEL 
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2.  The Spanish cargo ship, MV ULLA, was stuck in legal 
limbo for four years as Spain and Turkey argued over who 
should take responsibility for the hazardous cargo and local 
Turkish officials insisted on payment for port services - 
and according to the press, some bribes.  The long delay 
meant that the ship was increasingly unsafe. It finally sank 
this week in the Turkish Mediterranean port of Iskenderun, 
with its 2.2 tons of toxic fly ash cargo. 
 
3.  The issue started in 2000 when MV ULLA, loaded with fly 
ash from Spanish coal-fired power plants, arrived at 
Turkey's Mediterranean port of Iskenderun after Algeria 
turned away the cargo, which was intended as filler in a 
construction project.  Scientific analysis of the cargo 
revealed that the waste contained levels of chromium 
exceeding the legal standards set by Turkish law. 
Importation of such hazardous waste in Turkey is banned 
under the Basel Convention, which governs - and severely 
restricts - transboundary movements of hazardous wastes. 
 
4.  Turkish officials fined the ship and asked Spain to take 
back "MV ULLA" and the hazardous waste on board.  Turkey 
also asked the assistance of the Basel Convention 
Secretariat to find a solution for this issue.  To avoid any 
 
SIPDIS 
damage to the sea and coastal environment, the Turkish 
Environment Ministry (MOEF) asked the local court to keep 
the ship in the port of Iskenderun until the Spanish 
government agreed to accept the ship.  In the meantime the 
Turkish ship agent Mavi Sea Transportation Co. asked the 
court to sequester the ship until it received compensation 
for its losses. 
 
COULD IT BE A SABOTAGE, ASKS THE TURKISH MINISTER 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
5.  As news of the September 6 sinking hit the press, 
Environment and Forestry Minister Osman Pepe said that Spain 
and Turkey had recently reached an agreement that would have 
returned the vessel to Spain in just a few days.  He voiced 
his suspicion that because the ship sank right before its 
scheduled departure, it might have been the result of 
sabotage.  The press reported that Pepe asked Spain to pay 
compensation for the damage and the clean-up. According to 
recent press articles, Spanish officials offered help to 
Turkey to cope with the pollution. 
 
6.  The Deputy Governor of Hatay (the province where 
Iskenderun is located) Cafer Odabasi rejected the 
allegations for of sabotage on the grounds that the sinking 
of the vessel was normal after staying four years at sea. 
The ship's captain said he had warned authorities over three 
months ago of the dangerous situation, and a Greenpeace 
official told us the group had repeatedly warned officials 
about the degraded state of the vessel, and that it posed an 
immediate risk of marine contamination. 
 
RESULT: THE MARINE LIFE THAT SUFFERS 
------------------------------------ 
 
7.  The extend extentof the damage to the local environment 
and the cost of the clean up are not known.  The ship is 
completely submerged, but it is not known whether the ship 
is broken up and to what extent the cargo has escaped. 
 
8.  Environmental NGOs, headed by Greenpeace Mediterranean, 
Environment Protection Association, and Eastern 
Mediterranean Environment Associations, protested the slow 
bureaucracy and diplomatic actions and requested that the 
area to be cleaned-up immediately through cooperation with 
Spanish authorities.  Greenpeace Mediterranean Toxic Wastes 
Campaign Director Banu Dokmecibasi said both Turkish and 
Spanish governments were warned about the bad conditions 
under which the vessel was waiting and the possibility of 
sinking.  She said the governments did not consider this a 
serious issue. 
 
9.  A Turkish MFA official told Embassy Environmental 
Specialist that it became the responsibility of the MOEF 
after the vessel sank. The official said that a crisis desk 
had been established in the MOEF in order to carry out the 
necessary biological and chemical analysis and on-site 
investigations. The extent of the harm will be identified 
and the appropriate mitigation measures will then be 
determined on the basis of the findings.  The official also 
said MOEF banned fishing and water sports around the sunken 
vessel. 
 
10.  Around 10,000 people in the region who depend on the 
sea to make a living will suffer the immediate impact of the 
accident.  The long-range damage to the environment and 
human health are not known.  Greenpeace Mediterranean Toxic 
Wastes Campaign Director Banu Dokmecibasi said fly ash 
contained chromium (Cr+6), which is a heavy metal that 
causes cancer and harms marine life.  The press reported 
that 80 years would be needed to erase all traces of damage 
to the environment. 
 
IS TURKEY SEEN AS THE TOXIC WASTE DISPOSAL POINT? 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
11.  COMMENT: MV ULLA is not the only toxic waste problem 
that GOT is struggling with.  Embassy's Regional 
Environmental Office reported the cases of Italian toxic 
barrels on the Black Sea shores and Sea Beirut several times 
in the past. Unfortunately, no solid steps to solve these 
problems can be reported at the moment. End comment. 
EDELMAN