This week on Turkey Roast
Turkey claims to discover world's second largest rare earth element reserve, continues to subsidize fossil fuels, and bans vegan cheese
Hello dear Turkey Roaster,
I bet you won’t be happy to hear that Ankara continues to subsidize fossil fuels, but it does!
State-owned TEIAS, the electricity transmission corporation, will pay some 285 million TL (around $16,5 mn) to fossil fuel and hydro power plants as part of the Electricity Market Capacity Mechanism. Coal-fired power plants, working on either local or imported coal, are set to receive the bulk of the money: over 110 mn TL.
Capacity mechanisms are put in place to ensure supply security: payments are made to power plants so that they can provide electricity when demand peaks. The downside? These payments are an incentive to keep burning fossil fuels.
In Turkey, the mechanism was directed solely at fossil fuel plants when it was first introduced in 2018. A year later, hydro plants were also added to the scheme. Today, after five years, wind and solar are still exempt from the mechanism due to their ‘intermittency’.
What else has been cooking:
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Blessing or a curse: Turkey claims to discover world’s second largest REE reserve
Turkey claims to have discovered the world’s second largest rare earth element (REE) reserve in the northwestern Anatolian province of Eskişehir. The 694-million-ton reserve in the city’s Beylikova district is second only to the Bayan Obo mining town in China, Energy Minister Fatih Dönmez said, which boasts some 800 million tons of reserves.
According to an announcement published by the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, state-owned mining company Eti Maden aims to process some 570,000 tons of ore annually. (As this piece points out, this figure is nearly double the global demand projected for 2030 at 315,000 tons.)
The reserves are exceptionally close to the surface, Dönmez pointed out, suggesting that mining costs will be low. ‘We have found 10 of the 17 rare earth elements in this field,’ he added.
REEs are a set of 17 elements used in various industries including aviation, automotive, and defense. Recently, global demand for REEs peaked in tandem with the shift towards clean energy, as electrified vehicles and wind plants require them in much higher amounts.
Unlike what their name suggests, however, these elements are found abundantly in the earth’s crust, but aren’t often accumulated in a single area to make their extraction economically viable. Moreover, their mining requires a complex separation and refining process, holding back countries with large proven reserves. But the primary setback for REE extraction is nothing other than its high environmental costs.
As this article elaborates, China provides some 85% of the world’s REE supply, despite holding only 35% of global reserves. Other countries with high reserves, including Australia, the US, Canada, and Japan, cannot compete with what’s often described as China’s ‘lax environmental regulations’. (Any guesses on who might actually compete? Yes, this article, published at China’s state-affiliated Global Times soon after Ankara’s announcement, seems to think so too.)
A quick peek into the situation at Bayan Obo, the ‘hometown of rare earth’, heralds an ominous sign for Eskişehir. Bayan Obo is ‘one of the most heavily polluted areas of the world,’ according to the Environmental Justice Atlas, and its ‘local inhabitants, ecosystems, and the Yellow River are paying unbearable costs.'
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Vegans file lawsuit against Turkey’s full-fledged vegan cheese ban
Vegan Association of Turkey (TVD) has filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry due to a 2020 vegan cheese ban that recently started to be enforced.
As you might have heard, describing vegan products with dairy words such as milk, cheese or yoghurt is prohibited in the EU to avoid misleading consumers. This is already a controversial approach: while some (especially the livestock industry) claim non-dairy products shouldn’t be described as such, others point out that vegan substitutes need to be out there to encourage a shift towards a plant-based diet.
Turkey already had a similar regulation in place when it quietly took a drastic step further in 2020, banning the production of plant-based products that ‘resemble cheese’, a.k.a introducing a full-fledged ban on vegan cheese.
TVD says they began receiving complaints from vegan cheese producers in the first quarter of 2022. Vegan cheese products started being removed from online and offline markets, and manufacturers started receiving fines, despite having been operating with the necessary licenses and permits.
‘The provision not only harms the freedom of ownership of the manufacturers, but also hinders their competitiveness in the exponentially growing global market for vegan/plant-based products,’ TVD said, adding that the ban also constitutes an ‘arbitrary and disproportionate limitation of fundamental rights and freedoms’ of consumers.
Plant-based substitutes of dairy products are not only important for individuals who become vegan on ethical grounds but also those who need to carry on a lactose- and/or gluten-free diet due to health concerns.
In addition to the lawsuit, TVD also started an online petition through change.org, you can check it out here.
In Brief:
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Turkey is investigating a Russian-flagged ship claimed to be illegally transporting some 7,000 tons of grains stolen from Ukraine to be sold at international markets.
Before the war, Ukrainian exports accounted for some 15% of the global grain supply. However, Russia has been blockading the country’s Black Sea ports since the invasion, triggering a supply crisis in a number of countries in need of food supplies.
Moscow and Kyiv has long been negotiating on a deal ensuring safe passage for commercial shipping in the Black Sea. In case you are interested in reading more on Turkey’s role, here you go.
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According to a story by daily Cumhuriyet, Turkey’s General Directorate of Forestry (OGM) has issued a directive in late February to cut down millions of trees as part of efforts to prevent wildfires.
The directive, bearing the signature of OGM Head Bekir Karacabey, bears orders to cut down trees within five meters of all roads either crossing within or adjacent to forests.
The Foresters’ Association of Turkey (TOD) had released a press release against the directive, warning that the move would lead to the destruction of forests, as well as to habitat fragmentation.
‘Does this directive aim to fight against wildfires or increase wood production,’ the Association asked, noting that wood production skyrocketed over the past four years with a nearly 70% increase. ‘This is why we consider this practice more as an attempt to cover up excessive wood production than as a precaution against fires,’ it added.
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