‘Turkey needs support to fight climate change’

President Abdullah Gül said on Thursday at the climate conference at the Bella Center in Copenhagen that Turkey “must receive technology and financial support to realize national mitigation and adaptation objectives.” Gül underlined that Turkey's basic social and economic indicators such as per capita income, per capita primary energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions place it in the category of “middle-income developing country.” He further explained that this means that Turkey is in a different situation than that of other Annex I parties in which Turkey is included.

“It would be wrong to define all Annex I countries as being developed,” he said, adding, “Turkey is willing to take part in a post-2012 new climate regime that is fair, equitable, inclusive, transparent and achievable.”

A draft agreement that came out of the ad hoc working group on long-term cooperative action on Dec. 16 had a paragraph in its preamble explaining the “special national circumstances” of Turkey. It recalled “the special national circumstances of parties undergoing the process of transition to a market economy.”

These are indeed the “special circumstances” recognized by decisions of the 2001 COP 7 conference in Marrakech, where Turkey’s name was deleted from Annex II of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. That meant that an unjust situation in which Turkey was included in the category as a developed country was corrected. But Turkey remained in Annex I of the convention because it was included in that category as a member of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The Turkish delegation in Copenhagen guaranteed that this special circumstance would be incorporated in documents emerging from the conference.

Annex I countries cannot receive financial and technical support at this point even if they have special circumstances recognized. But a new categorization of countries might be possible in the future, leading to a new post-2012 climate regime when the Kyoto Protocol expires.

Still, Turkey has been having tough times at the climate talks -- most of which were closed to the press -- as some countries even demanded that Turkey should contribute to the financial aid pool for developing countries, mostly because they did not know much about Turkey’s socioeconomic conditions and evaluate it in the context of Annex I countries, sources said.

However, Turkish officials said every time Turkey’s name was mentioned as a developed country in the negotiations, a team member took the microphone and explained the actual situation.

So even though there was criticism from some Turkish civil society groups regarding Turkey’s presence at the conference with a delegation of about 100 people, the team was able make its presence felt by taking turns at several spontaneous meetings that usually lasted for 24 hours.

Per capita annual emissions in Turkey are 4.5 tons, compared to 23.5 tons in the United States and 11 tons in Denmark. But emissions have increased rapidly, from 170 million tons in 1990 to 372 million tons in 2007 as the annual per capita income rose from $3,000 in 1990 to $10,000 in 2007.

President’s speech ‘disappointing’

Uygar Özesmi, executive director of Greenpeace Mediterranean, said President Gül’s speech was disappointing for people “who think about Turkey’s future.”

Stressing that Turkey, as an eastern Mediterranean country, is in one of the regions most vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change, Özesmi said it should be a leader in fighting climate change.

“Fighting climate change would strengthen our economy, provide us energy independence, grant sustainability in the agricultural sector and solve our unemployment problem,” he told Today’s Zaman.

For that, he said there should be specific targets and those targets should be supported by sectoral goals.

According to Özesmi the reason behind Gül’s mute stance when it comes to providing emission reduction targets for Turkey is the poor work done by several government agencies, including the State Planning Organization (DPT).

He also noted that Greenpeace scenarios have shown that it is possible for Turkey to have a realistic emission reduction target of 25 percent in the energy sector and an overall reduction target of 30 percent.

Özesmi added that countries with socioeconomic conditions similar to Turkey have ambitious reduction targets while Turkey constantly seeks aid even though it otherwise attempts to act in a world leadership capacity.