ARMENIANS, BORON AND A NUCLEAR TURKEY
By Cafer T. Yavuz
Today’s Zaman
March 22 2010
Turkey
A Turkish tea party has nothing to do with the British. Visiting
friends and family on a long winter night, Turkish people like taking
it easy over cups full of tea after gobbling down slices of baklava.
This, however, doesn’t only happen in Asia Minor, Anatolia. Everywhere
around the world, Turkish compatriots, like their fellow Mediterranean
and Middle Eastern neighbors, gather around and talk about how to
"save" their country. These days, I witness the talks evolving into
"saving the world."
The United States and Sweden now share another commonality. They both
lost their Turkish ambassador. The Armenian diaspora is to blame,
they say, and certainly political voting for a historical debate
brought these unfortunate conclusions. This is not a new thing,
however. There have been countless efforts to get the US Congress
to acknowledge the term genocide for the killings of Armenians in
World War I. The United Nations requires a court decision to name
any event a genocide, and the lack of one leaves no choice for the
Armenian diaspora but to seek political recognition.
In his forecast for the 21st century, "The Next 100 Years," George
Friedman claims that Turkey will be a superpower within the next few
decades. His arguments are suitably based on an upcoming cold war
between the US and Russia. The US would arm Turkey for a possible
standoff, and when the Russians are defeated Turkey would remain
powerful. There certainly are doubts over such a chain of events, but
Turkey has something that can make it a world player if not an energy
giant: boron. The most modest estimations say that 72 percent of all
boron remains underground in the western Anatolian plains. Since boron
is one of the best nuclear fusion fuels to date (if not the best),
any breakthrough could catapult this young nation to the top of the
energy providers.
Saving Turkey at a Turkish tea party usually requires logically
sound conspiracy theories. You cannot ignore them anymore, however,
since the revelation of the Ergenekon terrorist organization,
which is currently on trial for plotting violent interventions in
the democratically elected government in Turkey. The tale of boron
has even deeper connections, from the CIA to the KGB. The fact that
boron was once used as rocket fuel is usually at the epicenter of
the talks, heading to intentional undermining by the establishment,
since no one wants an energy-independent Turkey. Thinking about how
rocket fuel could run everyday transportation is a waste of time and
certainly none should give it any thought.
In fact, if developed as a fusion fuel, boron could revolutionize
how we live. Energy would be abundant and cheap, and best of all,
without any environmental risk: no greenhouse gases, no nuclear
waste. Only a few helium atoms would scatter at a trip to the grocery
store. This is mostly unknown to many tea party goers, but they nod
when you inform them, as if they knew it all along. A proud Turk
would hope that the Turkish administration is free of those yes men,
but instead what it is doing is devising strategies for a nuclear
Turkey. Sadly, the lack of an awareness of such alternatives is the
situation, since there is no specific fusion institute established
in any of the 100+ universities inside Turkish borders. It would
be hard to find a world-renowned fusion expert of Turkish origin,
and a Turkish boron expert does not even exist.
Saving the world is not as easy as it seems. As Turkey is struggling
to build its first ever nuclear power plant, it’s hard to envision
a significant investment in developing boron-based fusion fuel. As
Erdogan’s cabinet has their hands full with domestic and international
politics, the Turkish tea parties have a lot to talk about, like why
the government is selling boron at the price of sandstone.
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*Dr. Cafer T. Yavuz is a chemist at the University of California at
Santa Barbara and is the founder of the first independent scientific
think tank in Turkey, BilSAK,