US embassy cable - 03ANKARA4170

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 004170 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
STATE FOR EUR/SE, EUR/PGI, OES/PCI, OES/EGC, OES/ETC, OES/OA 
PLEASE PASS USDA/FOREST SERVICE, EPA/OIA 
ALSO FOR USAID/EE/EEST (CMITCHELL) 
 
 
E.O.12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV, TBIO, KPAO, TU 
SUBJECT: TURKEY: ENVIRONMENTAL HIGHLIGHTS, MAY-JUNE 2003 
 
REF: ANKARA 2287 
 
 
(U) This is one of a series of cables providing updates on 
environmental issues in Turkey.  Below are topics covered in 
this cable: 
 
 
1.  Illegal fishing plagues Black and Azov seas 
2.  International team of scientists explore the Black Sea 
aboard the Research Vessel Knorr 
3.  "Blue Flags" for Turkey's safe and clean beaches 
4.  No change in winter air quality for big cities 
5.  Ambassador salutes environmental education 
6.  Soil erosion at troubling levels 
7.  Many issues stalled in parliament's environment 
commission 
8.  Emerging Ministry of Environment and Forestry 
9.  Uncertainty for TUBITAK 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
 
1. ILLEGAL, UNREPORTED FISHING CONTINUES IN BLACK SEA.  The 
disparity between data on marine living resources is so 
great from one littoral country to the next that it is 
nearly impossible to create a useable regional databank, 
according to the findings of a workshop on Responsible 
Fisheries in the Black and Azov Seas sponsored by UNDP-GEF 
and the Turkish Marine Research Foundation (TUDAV) in 
Istanbul.  The six-country workshop concluded that fishing 
continues to be a significant economic resource for the 
Black Sea littorals and that illegal, unreported fishing 
remains one of the most significant unresolved issues among 
them. 
 
 
2. ON BOARD THE RESEARCH VESSEL KNORR:  SEARCHING FOR 
MANGANESE-III.  About 90 scientists from 12 countries 
explored Black Sea waters and sediments aboard the Research 
Vessel Knorr, the vehicle that discovered the "Titanic." 
Among their scientific objectives was the study of the thin 
layer that separates the sea's oxygenated waters from the 
anoxic waters below.  Some scientists aboard believe that 
manganese-III, an element not yet found in nature, exists at 
that thin layer.  They believe that when found below the 
suboxic zone, manganese III may be key to keeping poisonous 
sulfides at the sea's bottom; when found above, they believe 
it absorbs certain pollutants. Owned by the Woods Hole 
Oceanographic Institute of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the R.V. 
Knorr will return to the Black Sea in July/August with Prof. 
David Ballard to search for ancient sunken structures off 
the coast of Sinop. 
 
 
3. BLUE FLAGS FOR SAFE AND CLEAN BEACHES.  This year, 140 
beaches and 11 marinas in Turkey have received a "Blue Flag" 
-- the eco-label for clean, safe and well-managed beaches 
and marinas -- from the international jury of the 
International Foundation for Environmental Education. This 
year's tally topped last year's 127 Blue Flag beaches and 12 
marinas.  Turkey ranked seventh out of 24 countries in terms 
of the number of Blue Flags awarded. Beaches and marinas in 
Antalya, Aydin, Balikesir, Canakkale, Istanbul, Isparta, 
Izmir, and Mugla won Blue Flags. 
 
 
4.  NO CHANGE IN WINTER AIR QUALITY FOR TURKEY'S BIG CITIES. 
Recently released data from the State Institute of 
Statistics suggest that there has been no significant change 
(improvement or worsening) in air quality of the 
metropolitan cities of Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir and Adana for 
winter 2002-03. 
 
 
5.  AMBASSADOR SALUTES ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION. On World 
Environment Day (6/5), Ambassador Pearson visited one of two 
schools in Turkey whose students developed projects on 
sustainable development that placed in the top ten in the 
international environmental learning competition, "My 
Community, Our Earth." Ambassador Pearson presented the 
school and students with certificates, and planted a tree -- 
a Liquidamber orientalis, a rare species found mostly in 
Southwestern Turkey and California -- dedicated to 
environmental education. On 6/6 Istanbul Consul General 
David Arnett visited the other winning school, located in 
Istanbul, for a certificate ceremony. 
 
 
6.  SOIL EROSION AT TROUBLING LEVELS.  The greatest damage 
to vacant land in Turkey occurs on property owned by the 
Undersecretary of Treasury, according to the Ministry of 
Environment and Forestry (MOEF).  At a conference organized 
by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization on land and 
water resource management, a forestry official said that 
those lands are largely unmonitored and that the bulk of the 
loss comes from soil erosion that reduces agricultural 
productivity, increases silt build up in reservoirs and 
lakes, and produces water loss. 
 
 
7.  PARLIAMENT PUSHES SOME ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES FORWARD, 
MANY REMAIN STALLED.  The Foreign Affairs Commission of the 
Grand Assembly accepted Turkey's participation in the 
Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Environment 
Commission passed a draft law that facilitates oil and 
mineral exploration, but many new laws and proposed 
amendments remain stalled in committee.  Among those 
awaiting a decision are a controversial amendment proposing 
the sale of coastal areas and a law on privatizing national 
parks.  A proposed amendment addressing public participation 
in environmental issues and a change in authority for 
declaring tourist areas are the two pending measures of most 
concern to the environmental community.  Others awaiting a 
vote address international agreements on hazardous waste, 
biosafety, ozone, and transboundary, Black Sea and 
Mediterranean pollution. 
 
 
8. NEWLY MERGED ENVIRONMENT AND FOREST MINISTRY STILL 
EVOLVING.  Two months into the newly merged Environment and 
Forestry Ministry (MOEF), there remains a high degree of 
uncertainty regarding organizational structure, staffing at 
the appointee and employee levels, and the role of public 
participation in decision-making.  Of the three projected 
deputy undersecretary positions, only one is filled; most 
department head positions are yet unassigned; and many new 
employees report to work with political affiliations unknown 
to their supervisors.  NGOs fear they will lose what little 
voice they have do have in environmental decision-making due 
to longstanding differences between the former ministries of 
Environment and Forestry.  Some officials project that it 
will take more than a year for the new Ministry to settle 
in. 
 
 
Newly appointed U/S Prof. Dr. Hasan Zuhuri Sarikaya, former 
Istanbul Water and Sewerage Administration (ISKI) Board 
Member, said that three new environmental departments have 
been established -- Seas and Coast Management, Treatment 
Technologies and National Parks, Wetlands and Protected 
Areas. 
 
 
9. UNCERTAINITY FOR TUBITAK. The Scientific and Technical 
Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) may also be affected by 
governmental restructuring. Although the Scientific Council 
has re-elected TUBITAK Prof. Dr. Namik Kemal Pak for another 
term as president, the Prime Minister has not yet signed the 
decree.  Dr. Pak attributes the delay to the new 
government's disinterest in autonomous or semi-autonomous 
organizations, such as TUBITAK.  Dr. Pak is concerned that 
the 40-year-old internationally respected TUBITAK will lose 
momentum, stature and ability to maintain high quality work 
if it loses its autonomous status and falls under the 
Ministry of National Education, one option being discussed. 
Similarly, Olcay Enver, president of the semi-autonomous GAP 
Administration (Southeastern Anatolia Development 
Administration), has been asked to resign, according to 
newspaper reports. 
 
 
PEARSON