ANKARA, 13 April 2006 — Turkey has made a final decision to build its first nuclear power plants in the Black Sea province of Sinop, the head of the Turkish state atomic power body TAEK said yesterday. Sinop meets several criteria on climate, safety, transportation and has been picked among eight candidates, Okay Cakiroglu told deputies in Parliament. The scheme will start with a small pilot reactor. “In the next three to three and a half years, we will build our nuclear reactor, producing 100 megawatts from uranium,” he said.

Turkey eventually plans to build three power plants in Sinop with a total 5,000MW capacity. Construction of the plants, which the government says will avoid a future power shortage, is expected to start in January 2007.

An energy official had told Reuters in February that the government had decided to build its first nuclear power plant in Sinop. Nuclear power is back in vogue as governments see atomic energy as a way of reducing their reliance on imported fuel and of meeting their Kyoto Protocol commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday a decision to make Istanbul a European capital of culture in 2010 would help Turkey’s EU membership talks and bolster tourism.

The European Union’s selection jury on Tuesday named Istanbul, along with Germany’s Essen and Pecs in Hungary, as Europe’s capitals of culture — a title which unlocks EU funds to host concerts, exhibitions and other cultural events.

“I believe the selection of Istanbul as a culture capital in 2010 will contribute greatly to the recognition of both Turkey’s and Istanbul’s rich cultural heritage,” Erdogan said .

“This will have a positive effect on our EU negotiation process,” he said, adding that it would help to counter a negative image some Europeans have formed of the country. Turkey began EU membership talks last October but is not expected to join before 2015 at the earliest. Many Europeans remain wary about admitting the large, relatively poor and overwhelmingly Muslim country of 72 million people.

Erdogan said Istanbul, which straddles Europe and Asia across the Bosporus straits and is famed for its mosques, bazaars and museums, could attract around 10 million foreign visitors by 2010. Turkey as a whole attracted 21 million foreign visitors last year, up 20 percent from the previous year. There is no accurate breakdown of the number of tourists visiting specific cities.

Also yesterday, Turkey unveiled more reforms yesterday to show its appetite for joining the European Union remains undimmed, but it ruled out any change for now to a controversial law which has drawn strong EU criticism. EU diplomats said the new package amounted to little more than window-dressing and they reiterated concerns that reforms in Turkey, which faces elections next year, have lost their momentum since accession talks began last October.

“We are resolved to continue this process of reform. It is not true to say we are going backward,” Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told a news conference. “What is important is the direction in which we are going — much more democracy, much more human rights, which will make us stronger,” he said. The reforms he announced included the appointment of an ombudsman, which the EU says will boost the fight against official corruption, and tighter control of military spending.