ANKARA - Greenpeace activists held a demonstration on Monday in front of Turkish Environment and Forestry Ministry to protest the neglect towards the toxic waste in the ship ''M/V Ulla'' that sank in Turkish port of Iskenderun.
The activists gathered before the minister's office early in the morning carrying placards saying ''Minister Waits, M/V Ulla Poisons''.
Banu Dokmecibasi, who read out a statement on behalf of the activists, said no initiative has been taken so far although 15 days passed since the sinking of the ship. Dokmecibasi defended that negligence of Turkish Environment & Forestry Minister Osman Pepe was in question.
Dokmecibasi said toxic waste in the ship poisons the Mediterranean.
Stating that the components of the waste would cause very serious health problems, Dokmecibasi said, ''we are waiting for the officials to announce to the public when and how the waste would be extracted.''
Later the Greenpeace activists were allowed to enter the ministry building and met Environment Ministry Deputy Undersecretary Mustafa Ozturk.
When Dokmecibasi asked Ozturk about their urgent action plan, he said ''experts from the universities, related institutions and organizations are working to determine when and how the waste could be extracted and a road map would be fixed''. Ozturk said making a false statement before having healthy information and before making necessary analysis could hamper Turkey's tourism. ''We should act with commonsense,'' he noted.
A cargo ship ''MV Ulla'', carrying Saint Vincent flag sank with its 2,200 tones of ''toxic material'' in Turkish port of Iskenderun on September 7th. The ship has been moored in Iskenderun port in southern city of Hatay for more than four years.
''MV Ulla'', which came to Iskenderun port four years ago, was not allowed to discharge its load on grounds that it contains hazardous waste.
(AY-ULG) 20.09.2004