745 Billion TL Compensation for Radiation Victims

The Ilgaz family, who were exposed to radiation, won their case as the Istanbul Administrative Court found the Turkey Atomic Energy Institution (TAEK) guilty for it did not perform its duty of protecting society from dangerous substances.The complaint that the Ilgaz family filed against TAEK in 1999 brought a record level of compensation. The family was exposed to a radioactive substance, which was present in a container that they had purchased in 1999 as scrap, and this made the family members spend rest of their life under the threat of cancer. The court decided that TAEK did not fulfill its duty of protecting society from dangerous substances and sentenced it to pay compensation of 25 to 100 billion TL to the each victimized member of the family. 16 members of the family were victimized by the incident. Jurists entitle this case as the lawsuit in which the court decided for payment of the highest compensation amount in Turkey. Expert reports say that the victims were in the early stage of feeling the effects of radiation and they bear the risk of cancer. As they will continue to feel those impacts for the rest of their lives, the court decided that TAEK should also pay moral compensation. Minister Convinced PeopleThe decision of the Istanbul Administrative Court included a reference to the statements of Turkish officials following the incident in the Chernobile nuclear plant in Russia in 1986. The court decision stated that then-TAEK President and Industry Minister argued that leakage of radiation to the Black Sea was limited and through media they generated the impression that radiation did not have much harmful effect on individuals. Then-Industry Minister Cahit Aral had drunk tea before journalists so as to prove that the tea produced in the Black Sea region did not contain radiation. Â