When TKİ profit targets came before human life

I have to admit that before I read the activity report 2012 of the Turkish Coal Enterprises (TKÄ°), I had no idea that this corporation had become one of the most profitable public enterprises in Turkey.

When I say TKÄ°, I am talking about the public agency that is responsible for the mine in Soma where 301 of our citizens died. It is a public agency reporting to the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry. It has leased this mine to a private company but monitors the activities of enterprises 365 days a year with an on-site oversight body.

The TKÄ° is in charge of managing lignite pits in Turkey. There is also the Zonguldak-based Turkish Coal Institute (TTK) in charge of managing bituminous coal reserves. The TTK is excluded in this article because its production is quite low compared to the TKÄ°.

There are eight main enterprises of the TKİ in different places in Turkey. In 2012, the lignite production in these managements was 42.7 million tons. After this production is processed, the remaining “marketable” portion is 33.3 million tons.

An important detail here: Lignite is extracted in two methods. The first one is the open production where you do not go underground. This is a much less risky method; however, Turkey’s open lignite reserves are almost finished. The second one is underground mining.

In 2012, 31.7 million tons of lignite was produced in Turkey in above-ground mining. The amount of coal dug from under the ground was 11 million tons. The underground production is conducted in Soma by Ege Linyit Enterprises and in Kütahya, Tavşanlı by the Garp Linyitleri enterprise.

Meanwhile, 80 percent of the lignite coal produced is given to...