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Unity is lacking between the 85 Turkish delegates attending the United Nation’s Climate Conference in Copenhagen, according to criticism of Turkey’s leading environmental representatives amid the second week of what is considered one of the year’s most critical conferences.
kaynak: GeldiK http://www.geldik.com/national-news/52733-turkish-delegation-at-climate-summit-lacks-unity.html
Non-governmental organizations, environmental organizations and representatives from Turkish environmental ministries are all participating in the conference ahead of President Abdullah Gül’s visit at the week’s end, but according to Uygar Özesmi, executive director of Greenpeace Mediterranean, the units are self-contained and an overall Turkish presence is absent.
While the picture painted before the Copenhagen meeting was that it might become a “leaders’ summit” where the world will establish a “political agreement” on cutting emissions without specific targets, Özesmi told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review that Turkey was unfortunately not demonstrating leadership in the scope of the negotiations.
“Results of this conference could determine the fate of the world, and it is disappointing that Turkey has not been more proactive, especially due to its place in a region that faces environmental threats such as desertification,” Özesmi told the Daily News.
Leading up to the conference, Greenpeace launched a bold campaign inviting visitors to ask Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to repeat his “one minute” rhetoric used at Davos in protest of Israeli policies in Gaza, and direct them toward the use of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse emissions.
“We would like him to stand up for future generations and challenge every developing country to take on responsibility and show them that even a country like Turkey, who is less responsible for causing climate change, is ready to take steps,” Özesmi said, speaking on behalf of the Green house campaign.
Turkish journalist, Omer Madra, who has been covering the conference for Open Radio said delegates remained quiet, and as a result, the notion that Turkey is ready to take steps has not resonated.
However, on a live radio broadcast on Tuesday, Madra said despite the lack of Turkish presence there has been considerable participation in the protests that took place adjacent to the conference. “A friend Ibrahim Mazlum from Marmara University flew for just one day from Turkey to participate in the protests,” Madra said.
Representative of the Green Party, Erol Aksu, who participated in the conference last week, also confirmed Turkey lacked strong representation. “There is a disparity and lack of collaboration between ministries and civil society’s representatives,” Aksu told the Daily News, adding that if they had worked together Turkey would have played a significant role in the conference and would have set a good example and played a part in boosting its European Union accession process.
According to Aksu, the groups were more active and worked in unison at the beginning of the week, but gradually drive and determination fizzled in the second week.
kaynak: GeldiK http://www.geldik.com/showthread.php?t=52733
Representatives also criticized the Turkish media coverage of the summit. “The urgency and importance of this summit for Turkey and the world, as a whole, is not communicated in the Turkish media, it barely had any more attention than a standard international climate conference,” Aksu said.
Also speaking on the subject of media coverage, Uygar Özesmi, executive director of Greenpeace Mediterranean said the current daily issues on Turkey’s agenda distracted from the importance of the coverage and thus comes second or third and did not have enough coverage.
Madra said the protests and consequential arrests had more press coverage than key topics of the conference. “This is natural, but it is crucial for the topics of the conference to be covered extensively, so that the Turkish public follow and understand the importance of the conference,” he said.

Hürriyet

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