Energy Minister Bayraktar: 'Akkuyu Nuclear Power Station is a Turkish company'

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar responded to the statement by Anastasia Zoteeva, the CEO of Akkuyu Nuclear Power Station that the power plant belongs to Russia.

The Minister commented on the discussion about the power station under construction in Akkuyu, Mersin in an interview on A Haber TV channel, claiming that Akkuyu NPS is a project entirely under Turkey's control.

"Akkuyu NGS is a Turkish company that operates according to the legislation of Republic of Turkey. It is therefore a project entirely under Turkey's control, and under the framework of intergovernmental agreements, we have very significant rights in both economic and security matters. Therefore, this is a move aimed at discrediting a project that will contribute so much to Turkey's development and growth in the eyes of the public," Bayraktar said.

"Russia holds all shares"

100% of the shares are distributed to Russian companies and therefore the nuclear power plant should be considered as belonging to Russia and not Turkey, argued journalist and Campaigns Director of Ekosfer Association Özgür Gürbüz, speaking to bianet about Akkuyu NGS.

" According to the agreement, Russia holds the majority share. Russia can sell only 49% of the power plant even if they want to. This is a condition in the agreement," he said.

Gürbüz critisizes this, arguing that Turkey was already dependent on Russia for coal, natural gas, and oil.

"With the invasion of Ukraine, the dependency rate has been increasing. At this point, we are becoming dependent on Russia for electricity through the nuclear power plant," he says.

What happened?

Akkuyu NGS CEO and Board Chairperson Anastasia Zoteeva had said in an interview with a Russian channel, "This nuclear power plant belongs to Russia."

Speaking about "nuclear exports" since the Soviet Socialist Republics' era, Zoteeva stated, as translated by Sabri Gürses: "We are building this not on our own land but for ourselves. This nuclear power plant belongs to Russia. This is our power plant, located in another country's territory, but it is our power plant." (TY/PE)