Dear Sir or Madame
I write to you because first of all I think that letters can only be good, and they can’t be hostile, I am a Greek citizen and I cannot hide who I am. You may think that I am from the Muslim community of Greece and I try to put in logical terms the honest good feelings I have for Turkey but I am from the church side, which exist in Istanbul. I repeat to you that I just have some interests in the today’s life of Turkey where I see the effort for positive things. My father is born in Megara and as you know it was a boat from Megara in the ancient world that founded nowadays Istanbul. I see that these ancient people of those old boats have recognition in Turkey, and as an example I say to you that there are cafes and hotels who name Megara and Byzas in Istanbul because this is the history of this city and no one deny that. Starting from these facts my emotions for Turkey are positive a long time after the fall of Istanbul. The annoying of this event in 1453 is not the actual fall but it is that people in the Western world have not digest it nowadays and perhaps I would say that they don’t use this historical European link and discuss with Turkey about nowadays problems and this is what society needs.
By going straight to the point I want to make I have learned that there is a law in Turkey that it doesn’t allow the construction of a nuclear plant near to olive yards. And I wonder is it so true the fixing of this law or is it the proper concern of Turkey about what other neighbour countries say about the nuclear plants. Of course a nuclear plant needs money and investment and is a matter primarily of technology. On the other hand is a courage that deserves to congratulate the words and the acts of the Turkish officials to make plans for them. From a short review I have done I can say that by having small nuclear plants of 300 MW then the area of affection after an accident is too small, and also nuclear plants can be underground so as to avoid terrorists who want to steal plutonium. So I conclude that is not so a matter of priority what other countries say about the safety of these plants but is more important to choose the size of them, by being small the size other countries have nothing to say. The answer to the issue how to progress a nuclear plant has a double way to approach it. First is the choice of technology but secondly is the events on the previous sectors of energy that lead society towards making it. By seeing the number of accidents in the coal and oil industry is rather evident that people will realise from the number of the human casualties on them that the nuclear energy is the future of this world. My prediction is that the nuclear plants will spread in all Asia, far Asia the Indochina peninsula etc. My degree is a Bachelors one from Plymouth University UK and you should not expect too much from me with this first level of degree on this subject but I think my letter can have a short of advice and a positive handshake for what we see in the news about the efforts of Turkey.
In the news we saw recently the anger of the Turkish government for the attack in the Turkish Lira and I can say that the relatively smaller country of Bulgaria manages to hold a steady currency against the bigger foreign currencies partly because of the sustainable area of Kozloduy nuclear plant. So it is hard but also tempting the desire to make nuclear plants for the economy. By asking how Greece would do it the answer is that it is necessary to improve all short of other sectors of the economy before to dare to say that Greece is ready to start to announce the discussion for a nuclear plant. My prediction is that is unlikely to happen before the year 2040. Knowledge in other disciplines is required, people should become more mature in knowing what each other do and so on and overall a mature society is needed for them.
The moral issue about the nuclear plants is of course connected with the reduction of oil and coal which does damage and first of all in fisheries with the numerous oil spills. It is a target of the EU to reduce both of them and is worth to imagine how the sea would better look when the reduction of tankers for oil would reduce the pressure and the risk of the oil spill accidents at sea. The reasons of such accidents is connected with money in the sense that the rush of money makes people to do mistakes. The classical example is the oil spill of Agia Zoni II in Piraeus which occurred on the 10th of September 2017 which is the day of opening of schools. Of course many parents need the best for their children and they prepare them to attend the first day in school with full supplies. This fact had been caught by the captains of the boats who rushed to support these families on that school opening day more that they could sustain. They overloaded the shipment the boat lost its balance its water line had been submerged and the oil went into the sea because the reserve buoyancy of the boat was reduced beyond the critical level. In another way to say it is that the reserve buoyancy of the boat couldn’t withstand the load of the ”money” expected to be done out of this day. So it is a lesson in terms of accidents that things do not need rush and of course there is a correlation of the ability of the fleet and money expected to do from a certain fleet of boats. If the fleet is not new, not capable then there should be a measure to reduce the expectations of money from the specific incapable boats. The same logic applies everywhere if someone thinks that is too difficult to make a nuclear plant for the size of Istanbul then is right perhaps it is too difficult so why not seeing to make a smaller one for another smaller city first? An accident to a nuclear plant of an Istanbul electricity size is something no one can bare and perhaps this is the reason why nuclear plant plans stop. Istanbul and Ankara and so one are big cities the government wants to care for as much people and wants to give priority to the important economic centres of a country and this is rational. But by considering all the aspects of the nuclear plant there is the alternative option to go step by step, to construct a small one to educate the staff and from the experience of this staff the big Istanbul or similar size plant can be a reality, after the small plant’s achievement.
By coming again to my personal relation with Turkey I would say that is not big neither is too little, because I have met Turkish people in my studies in England and in conferences in economy, but mostly I learn so basic things about Turkey from the news. I feel to say that I see the president of Turkey first of all as a father who wants to do good for the people of Turkey. I learned in the wikipedia that the father of the president of Turkey was a coast guard and we saw the effort of nowadays president to manage the boats in the Aegean sea with a reduction of the tourist boats between Greece and Turkey in the eastern Aegean side. I don’t think there is nothing wrong with it because the airline companies have increased flights and the tourist offices in Europe and elsewhere are very organised and can reach airports everywhere without needing tourist boat routes that do not have economic sustainability.
I would like to repeat that there is no a concern of losing anything by giving letters to someone and I conclude by wishing good luck to the people of Turkey.
Yours sincerely
Izmir University of economics
Sakarya Caddesi, No:156
35330 Balçova – İzmir / TÜRKİYE