Zaha Hadid

Zaha Hadid projects in Turkey, OpEd The life story and influence of the world-renowned British architect Zaha Hadid has left an impressive mark felt in different geographies. Zaha Hadid was born in Baghdad, Iraq in 1950 and studied mathematics as a teenager. After completing the mathematics department at the American University of Beirut, he turned to the field of architecture and received a diploma from the London Architectural Association school. In 1977, she had the opportunity to work at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture with the teachers of the school she studied. Continuing her architectural journey, she established her own architectural firm in London in the 1980s and brought her vision to wider audiences. During this time, she transferred her knowledge and experience to the younger generations as a lecturer at the Architectural Association and at prestigious institutions around the world. Zaha Hadid's influence went beyond geographical borders and reached important cities in Turkey such as Izmir and Istanbul. It was planned that the EXPO 2020 İzmir project would be put into operation on an area of ​​205 hectares in İzmir İnciraltı. This project envisaged the transformation of this large area into a large health center and natural park after the EXPO process, in accordance with the EXPO law adopted by the Turkish Grand National Assembly. However, this anticipated plan could not be implemented due to the fact that EXPO 2020 İzmir did not take place. Zaha Hadid's influence extended to the Kartal district of Istanbul. The owner of the winning design in a competition held in 2006 for a major transformation project in Kartal, Hadid aimed to completely reshape this seaside town and build a completely different reality. With her computer-aided design approach, she planned to separate Kartal from the general fabric of the main city and make it a part of the firm's global design network. However, this project could not be implemented as a result of objections and the court process. Zaha Hadid's influence in Turkey was not limited to these projects. SHe participated in the concept design competition for the Air Traffic Control Tower of Istanbul New Airport with a whirling dervish motif, but failed to win the competition. Zaha Hadid's vision of realizing a project in Turkey was unfortunately not realized. Although Zaha Hadid is no longer with us, her creative genius and architectural vision will live on through her works and legacy. Ankara 21 May 2023

Oximoron statement

An oximoron statement, “clean coal” OpEd Your writer is now in Copenhagen for next five days. We have tickets for opera and symphony orkestra. It is so exciting that this country supplies more electricity from solar and wind renewables than fossile sourcesalthough they have offshore gas and oil fields in North sea. How different is the energy policies of Denmark to Turkey. Fossil fuels and other non renewable sources accounted for just 28.6% of Denmark's total net generation and continues to decline against a total of 71.4% generated from solar and wind renewable sources. Offshore wind is getting increased. Denmark also has a political agreement in place that targets for renewable energy to cover 100% of electricity and 55% of overall consumption by 2030. In addition, 90% of district heating is to come from non-fossil sources by 2030. The government also aims to end the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2030 Your writer has lost faith in most common statements in Turkey. Like most of friends who work in the Turkish energy sector, we thought that if the existing public power plants were sold and privatized, if environmental equipment was installed and operated in these thermal power plants in a reasonable time, as a condition of privatization, the clean coal technologies we always talked about would be applied. However, the intelligence of investors works only for profit. On the other hand aiming to maximize the public income, and officials who want to collect the maximum amount of money from the investor came together in a common result. We got the current unpleasant result. The investors asked for a long-term delay exemption from the construction of the environmental equipment, otherwise they blackmailed the public authority by stopping the operating plant and not supplying electricity to the market. The public authorities compelled to submit to this blackmail. As a result, we have now old almost scrap thermal power plants that have been working for as long as possible, without environmental equipment for years, constantly polluting the environment. What are the environmental equipment? These are dust holding filters, flue gas desulfurization systems, carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) techniques, DeNox (SCR) systems, coal gasification systems, coal preheating and dewatering equipment. Has all this been done so far? Instead of these, alternative fake systems with very low costs were put forward and the time exemption was utilized to the maximum. Until the power plants failed, they were operated at the highest capacity, polluting the nearby environment. Plenty of money was earned, the surrounding farmland became unusable. During his presidency, Donald Trump supported clean coal technologies as a solution to reduce unemployment. Thanks to mechanization and advanced technology, 75,000 workers work today in the US coal fields, which had 500,000 employees a century ago. Most of the thermal power plants are already old, they have reached the end of their useful life, most of them have been closed completely. Europe was slowly shutting down coal-fired power plants prior to the Ukraine war, but the war stopped this trend. The concept of clean coal technologies is nothing but a deception, a deception with incompatible words. This is an oximoron statement. Let's not fool ourselves. There is No such thing. Coal is black, dirty, polluting, it is not practical nor economical to use clean technologies, while it is possible to produce electricity easily by polluting the environment cheaply, no one invests in environmental equipment, no one cares raises domestic clean needs, and no one spends the electricity produced in a business that will not earn money. Coal-burning thermal power plants are heavy expensive investments, which politicians have to give permission for a while because there were no other option. Now there are other neat clean options, options with solar wind power and storage. All this awaits us. Existing old thermal power plants will work until the end of their useful life, eventually they will be sold as scrap, and renewable power plants will be built in their place. Future generations will look at scrap power plants and say, "How did our ancestors made such stupid wrong decisions?" Copenhagen, 9 May 2023

Nuclear

Turkish Nuclear investment, OpEd Countries provide favorable environments for energy investments in international markets. These investments have reliable financial systems, solid and trustworthy legal systems, and well educated local technical personnel. The capacity of an energy plant to be built using local fuels or imported coal are determined. Reliable firms at the international level prepare feasibility reports and explore international financing options. Presentations are made to investors and financiers, and once financing is secured, reliable contractor firms enter the scene. The project begins, electricity is generated, and money collection begins. The life of a power plant is 25 years, but it can be extended with rehabilitations and renewals. However, investors and financiers do not want to wait that long. Usually, the money invested is repayed within the first 3-5 years, and then the ownership of the plant is sold to a local partner. Similar processes are carried out for all previous investments in natural gas-fired, local or imported coal-fired thermal power plants. However, the investor in the Akkuyu nuclear power plant is following an unusual investment process. The investor is our northern neighbor and they started with an equal local-foreign partnership. However, since the financial capacity of the local partners was insufficient, the lead foreign investor purchased all of them. The nuclear power plant is a three-cycle thermal power plant. The nuclear core cycle converts heat to steam cycle, and the steam generator produces electricity. Following the nuclear core design, other equipment is in the classic thermal power plant layout and can be purchased from any supplier who has passed certifications. The investor had simple non-critical civil construction work done by local construction contractors. He produced, brought, and mounted the nuclear core himself. He purchased other classic thermal power plant equipment from different locations with sales credit. It would not be wrong to say that we are not satisfied with the investments made by our northern neighbor in our country. Projects such as Orhaneli thermal power plant, Seydişehir aluminum facilities, and İskenderun iron-steel facilities resulted in serious problems in our warmer geography, where projects designed for the cold Siberian conditions. These projects needed to be renovated rehabilitated renewed. There is no public report for this project, financing was provided behind closed doors with intergovernmental agreements, and there are no free market conditions. The application of the governing law is also not specified, there are no internationally recognized contractual terms, and force majeure clauses are not clear. The work started with the acceptances of non-technical people, and delays were experienced. Every year, one hundred students return to our country after receiving 4-year long nuclear physics education at our northern neighbor's universities. Maybe some of them married Russian youth. Total Four hundred of these students are still working in public service, and they did not need them during the construction of the nuclear power plant. However, was the education received by these students a serious nuclear design education? The answer is unknown because the students who received nuclear education signed confidentiality agreements and they did not disclose any details. The strategic location of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant on our southern coast is very important. Along with the nuclear power plant, a sensitive communication center was also established. The Syrian Tartus military port is very close by. What if there are activities here beyond our control? Can there be foreign military initiatives here? Can there be joint activities with Tartus outside of our own territory? Akkuyu will generate 4800 MWe of electricity for 15 years with a fixed purchase (50%) guaranteed price of 12.35 US cents/kWh. Useful life time is 60 years. Estimated initial cost is 22 billion USA dollars. The amount of money for kwh energy generation paid is insignificant, however we cannot predict where the prices will go. But can such a degree of dependence be acceptable? We accepted it for natural gas, and now we are facing nuclear dependence. Typical people in Russia are well-educated and emotionally similar to us, but the state structure is repressive and prone to violence. How will we work with these people in a fragile environment and under difficult economic conditions? Difficult tasks await us. Like previous international investors, they cannot just sell everything and leave after five years. This time, the investor is coming to stay for a long time. Istanbul 4 May 2023

Anabasis

Anabasis, a book review, OpEd The 400-page ancient times travel-memoir called Anabasis, written by Xenophon around 400 BC, is still read with interest even today. The story told in the book is about the events that took place after the death of the Persian king. The rebellious younger prince, who opposes the elder boy's kingship and has a lot wealth of money, assembles an army of 10,000 mercenaries, mostly Spartans, in the Hellenic region. They reach Babylon, that is, near Baghdad in present-day Iraq, via Konya, and southeastern Anatolia. However, they lose their war with the Persians and ten thousand Hellenic soldiers are left in the alone in the Middle East. Their commander goes to a meeting to make an agreement with the Persian king, but they are taken prisoner and all were killed. In the absence of the commanders, a lesser rank soldier named Xenophon with three others are chosen as the commander of the ten thousand soldiers and they direct the army to the north. Under very difficult climatic and geographical conditions, they cross Eastern Anatolia from south to north and reach Trabzon, and from there weak and sick soldiers reach their homeland by ships, and the rest by land via Giresun and Sinop to Istanbul. In the end, eight thousand soldiers survive. Xenophon describes this event in detail in his daily Anabasis book. Xenophon, a student of Socrates, ends his campaign as a successful commander, which he started as a simple humble warrior. The Anabasis book is also very informative for Alexander, who will conquer the same region 70 years later. The Anabasis book is available in major bookstores and is very enjoyable to read. It should not be forgotten that after a lost war, we may be helpless in the deserts of the Middle East, like the Spartan mercenaries 2500 years ago. Xenophon book Anabasis is not only a historical document, but also shows how people can act together, show leadership and focus on the goal under difficult conditions. The book is still being studied in the field of leadership and business today. The story of Anabasis also tells us the story of a challenging adventure. This time, where ten thousand soldiers struggle to survive, also shows the power of solidarity between people. Therefore, Anabasis is a must-read for anyone interested in history, leadership, adventure, and human nature. Anabasis also has similarities with today's events. The world is always faced with political, economic and social problems. However, we can overcome these problems by acting together, demonstrating cohesive leadership, and staying focused. Similar events are taking place today. At the G7 and G20 summits, top world leaders meet and try to find common sense and decisions on conflicts, wars, energy and environment issues, understand each other and act together. Therefore, your writer think that we too can be inspired by Anabasis to overcome the challenges we may face today and in the future. Istanbul 1- May 2023