Efforts to improve the air quality in Turkey continue around the clock. In the last measurement made after strict controls were applied especially to coal-fired thermal power plants, it was determined that there was an improvement of up to 46% in Turkey's air quality, the Minister of Environment and Urbanization Murat Kurum told Sabah newspaper.

While Turkey is accelerating its domestic and renewable energy investments instead of fossil fuels, it is also trying to transform the fossil fuels it has into energy via environmentally friendly methods.

In this context, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan previously said, "We will not allow the people to be poisoned" as work began to complete the smokestack filter investments of thermal power plants as quickly as possible.

Some 438 inspections were carried out at thermal power plants, and fines totaling TL 3.1 million ($353,656) were imposed.

In the measurements, a 46.15% improvement was recorded in air pollution caused by coal-fired thermal power plants in Zonguldak, one of Turkey's industrial cities.

Kurum stated that in the cities of Manisa, Kahramanmaraş, Kütahya, Çanakkale and Zonguldak, where thermal power plants are located, there has been a serious decrease in the rates of particulate matter and sulfur dioxide in the air. He said that they are very meticulous about the inspections of thermal power plants.

"We monitor the emissions of 67 smokestacks belonging to solid fuel thermal power plants online. We prevent the plants from polluting the air by ensuring their limits do not go above the allowable threshold," he said.