On the veranda of a small house, Omer coughs as his wife serves up sweet tea and biscuits.
asserted
wife → cough → tea
The golden glow of late-afternoon sun peaks through nearby foliage and scatters across the floor – an idyllic scene, perhaps, but for a swell of black smoke pooling in the sky over us.
asserted
glow → peak → us
All day – and some say at night, too – emissions chug out in huge columns from alternating chimneys at the nearby Afşin-Elbistan coal plant.
asserted
emissions → say → plant
It leaves the air all around the surrounding plateau, in Turkey’s southern Kahramanmaraş region, feeling dry and heavy in the mouth and lungs.
asserted
It → leave → mouth
Now in his late fifties, Omer has worked at the vast plant for years, as well as living a stone's throw from it.
asserted
Omer → work → it
His brothers also worked there, but in recent years, three have died – two from lung cancer and one of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a progressive lung condition that can be caused or worsened by long-term exposure to coal fumes.
asserted
that → work → fumes
“I believe working at this plant killed them,” says Omer, pointing his finger towards it in indignation.
asserted
Omer → believe → indignation
“And I’m not going to see 65, I know that.”
asserted
I → go → that
Another brother is also living with COPD and asthma.
asserted
brother → live → COPD
According to Omer, his late brothers were between 55 and 61 when they died, and there was no previous history of these illnesses in his family.
uncertain
they → accord → family
His father – who was also born in the village – lived to 97.
asserted
who → bear → 97
Turkey is set to host world leaders over the next couple of days in the southern coastal city of Antalya, as part of the Cop31 summit.
asserted
Turkey → set → summit
Under an unusual power-sharing arrangement with Australia, who will lead the formal negotiations, the country has said it will attempt to turn previous pledges – such as the landmark Paris Agreement – into measurable policy.
asserted
it → share → policy
Speaking on Monday as the summit opened, leaders urged the world to accelerate the fight against global warming in a year of climate-driven disasters that is also on track to be one of the four hottest on record, according to a UN report released the same day.
uncertain
that → speak → report
“A drought in one part of the world is felt at the dinner table in another,” said Turkish president-designate Murat Kurum, while UN climate chief Simon Stiell said progress had been “nowhere near fast enough”.
asserted
progress → feel → another
“This year's fossil fuel cost chaos has delivered a global shockwave, hitting households hard and spreading inflation like a cancer,” said Stiell.
Kurum, who is also Turkey’s minister of environment, urbanisation and Climate Change, has explicitly positioned Antalya as an “Implementation Cop” built around electrification, waste reduction, climate finance and green industry.
asserted
who → deliver → electrification
He set a voluntary global goal for 35 per cent of energy needs from electricity by 2035.
asserted
He → set → 2035
Yet critics have questioned the climate credentials of both Australia, a major coal exporter, and Turkey, a major coal consumer, as they seek to shift attention towards electrification and away from fossil fuels.
asserted
they → question → fuels
Amid rising domestic emissions, Ankara has continued to invest in oil, coal and gas and has yet to produce a credible plan to phase them out
They have also pointed to major structural obstacles to Turkey’s electricity ambitions.
asserted
They → rise → ambitions
It currently accounts for around 22 per cent of total final energy consumption, but the country is Europe's largest producer of coal-fired electricity, with just over a third coming from coal – the dirtiest of fossil fuels – and almost another quarter from gas.
asserted
third → account → gas
The country has high coal dependence, according to Climate Watch, and it is the only member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that has not banned new coal plant permits.
uncertain
that → have → permits
It is also seeking to expand two coal-fired power stations: Afşin-Elbistan, which has operated for decades in one of the country's most polluted regions, and the smaller Cenal, near the western coastal town of Çanakkale.
asserted
which → seek → Çanakkale
The projects would allow the plants to burn considerably more coal, extending the country's reliance.
asserted
plants → allow → reliance
Opponents have raised concern that they are also a serious public health risk.
asserted
they → raise → concern
‘Like they’re forcing everyone to chainsmoke’
asserted
they → force → everyone
More than a dozen residents living near the Afşin-Elbistan plant questioned Turkey’s commitment to Cop31, telling The Independent that they believe the plant is causing widespread sickness, including cancer, respiratory and cardiovascular problems.
The names of the people we spoke to have been changed to protect them – many others did not want to speak out for fear of reprisal as the plant is now the main employer in the area.
asserted
plant → live → area
Dr Mehmet has worked at a hospital in the Elbistan area for 15 years and says that 70 per cent of the patients he sees suffer from respiratory problems, many are pregnant women or children.
asserted
many → work → problems
He believes it is the result of oxidative stress caused by breathing in toxic emissions.
asserted
it → believe → emissions
The most common complaints he sees are a persistent cough, breathing problems, mucus, high blood pressure and heart palpitations.
asserted
he → see → ?
Although they are not rare conditions, he says it is the number of cases that make it unusual, the fact that they appear even in the young and that the problems appear to be site specific.
asserted
problems → say → young
People develop problems after moving to the area, he claims, and the issues seem to clear up in those who move away.
uncertain
who → develop → those
He also sees a lot of patients who have had asthma attacks and believes they take a longer time than normal to recover.
asserted
they → see → time
“Whatever comes out from those chimneys goes straight into your lungs and stays there for a long time until your body can’t take it anymore,” Dr Mehmet says.
asserted
Mehmet → come → it
“We have a population of 140,000 people and it’s like they’re forcing everyone here to chainsmoke.
asserted
they → have → everyone
It’s really a horrible place.”
asserted
It → ’ → ?
The Afşin-Elbistan complex is made up of two power stations: the older A, which began operating in 1984, and B, which opened in 2006.
asserted
which → make → 2006
A was ordered to close for failing to install legally required pollution-control equipment in 2020, but Kurum permitted two of its four units to reopen five months later.
asserted
two → order → units
An expansion of A to add two new further units, increasing capacity by 688MW – or enough to supply around 500,000 to 700,000 extra homes – was first proposed two years later.
asserted
expansion → add → homes
The local community has been fighting the plans ever since, saying the plant has impacted health, water supplies, farming and has seen thousands of people move out of the area.
asserted
thousands → fight → area
A 2022 analysis commissioned by Greenpeace Mediterranean estimated that an extension could cause around 1,900 premature deaths, with a later Human Rights Watch report finding that despite early warning of an expected “cancer explosion” the government “has failed to monitor and reduce the harm.”
uncertain
government → commission → harm
…and 41 more, not listed.
The Aporia
