Turkish activist researcher Pinar Demircan wrote this article for Nuclear Transparency Watch which we are re-publishing on our website with her permission.

Turkish journalist and anti-nuclear activist Pinar Demircan is known to the readers of DiaNuke.org as we interviewed her earlier about the nuclear risks in her country. Recently, she met eminent health expert and anti-nuclear crusader Dr. Helen Caldicott, who shared some extremely valuable insights about her career, challenges and manipulations by the nuclear lobbies.

In this article, Pinar Demircan examines the present Russian occupation of Ukraine as one that signifies the dead end of capitalism. The author argues that foreign dependency has made even the Russian nuclear industry giant Rosatom aggressive and vulnerable at the same time, and points to the possibility of similar occurrences across other geographies, including in her country, Turkey by looking at it from the perspective of nuclear energy.

Pinar Demircan | Gaziemir, one of the 30 districts of Izmir, was recognized as “Chernobyl of Izmir” due to the nuclear waste that remained in the soil for decades. The nuclear waste was detected in the grounds of The Aslan Avci Lead Factory in 2011, soon after the factory moved away to an other district of Izmir and the company was sentenced to pay the highest environmental penalty of 5.7 million Turkish Liras for its polluting the environment. Being at a distance of 75-100 meters from two primary schools with over 1000 students attending each, it is located in the middle of the town.