Turkey’s most polluted air is in Iskenderun

Iskenderun, the port city that burned for four days after the February 6th earthquake, became Turkey’s most polluted region… Analyzing data from air quality monitoring stations, Greenpeace Mediterranean identified the 20 regions in Turkey with the highest air pollution. Hatay’s Iskenderun district ranks first.

As part of its efforts to combat air pollution, Greenpeace Mediterranean analyzed data from particulate matter (PM) 10 collected from stations in the national air quality monitoring network of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization, and Climate Change for the year 2023.

Accordingly, the top 20 regions with the highest air pollution in Turkey are as follows:

Iskenderun (Hatay)
Kadıköy-Göztepe (Istanbul)
Iğdır Center
Osmaniye Center
Elbistan (Kahramanmaraş)
Kadirli (Osmaniye)
Karatay (Konya)
Nazilli (Aydın)
Nilüfer (Bursa)
Kestel (Bursa)
Merkez Ulupark (Manisa)
Karatay-Karkent (Konya)
Akdeniz-İstiklal (Mersin)
Muş Center
Şahinbey-Beydilli (Gaziantep)
Hakkari Center
Aydın Center
Batman Center
Şahinbey-GaskiD6 (Gaziantep)
Denizli Center

235 DAYS OF DIRTY AIR IN A YEAR

According to the analysis results, the measurement station in Hatay’s Iskenderun district, which ranks first, recorded Turkey’s dirtiest air in 2023. Dirty air exceeding the PM 10 limit value was breathed in the district for 235 days. Some of the striking results revealed after the analysis of the Ministry’s data for the year 2023 are as follows:

– When looked at from the perspective of PM 10 pollutant in 2023, it was observed that there was no city with clean air in Turkey according to World Health Organization (WHO) standards. Approximately 4.6 million people living in the ten dirtiest districts of Istanbul breathed dirty air in 2023 according to national standards.

– The air in Göztepe, the dirtiest district of Istanbul, was dirty for 222 days according to national regulations. Altındağ is the dirtiest district of Ankara. People living in the Siteler region of the district were exposed to dirty air exceeding the PM 10 limit for 172 days, while those living in the Ulus region were exposed for 135 days.

– In Izmir, the annual average of PM 10 is above the national regulation. The three dirtiest areas in Izmir are Torbalı with 173 days, Kemalpaşa with 126 days, and Alsancak with 136 days of unhealthy air. The Nilüfer district of Bursa has the dirtiest air, and people living there were exposed to unhealthy air exceeding the PM 10 limit for 199 days.

13 PEOPLE DIE EVERY MINUTE

Greenpeace Climate and Energy Expert Gökhan Ersoy emphasized that air pollution leads to the death of 13 people per minute worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, and said that in Turkey, after tobacco, obesity, hypertension, and hyperglycemia, air pollution ranks fifth among the risks leading to death.

FOSSIL FUEL IS THE CAUSE OF POLLUTION

Ersoy pointed out fossil fuels as the culprit of air pollution and said:

– Heating, transportation, and industrial policies shaped at the fossil fuel center are turning our cities into pollution traps and continue to deprive us of our right to clean air. Looking at the regional rankings of the last three years, we see that there is no radical change in the pollution rate of cities, and only a few steps have changed their places, and we still see that the annual average limit value specified in the regulation is exceeded.

– This exacerbates the health risks brought by air pollution, which has become a chronic problem. The inclusion of three cities from the earthquake zone in this year’s list and Hatay and Osmaniye being among the top 10 dirtiest regions for the first time show that the additional pollution burden caused by debris removal activities is intolerable for public health. Because all stations in these three cities exceeded the annual limit value.