Greenpeace pair end chimney sit-in

ANKARA, Turkey -- Two Greenpeace activists have ended a protest in which they climbed down the chimney of a Turkish waste incinerator.

They agreed to end the protest after the Turkish Environment Ministry promised to take measures against pollution caused by the plant.

The activists, who had spent almost two days down the chimney of the incinerator near the northwestern city of Izmit, were arrested immediately after ending the protest.

During the protest, activist Banu Dokmecibasi had said, by mobile phone from atop the 55-metre (181-feet) chimney said: "We will stay here until the environment ministry announces a sensitive policy,"

Greenpeace said samples of ash produced by the plant's incinerator revealed high levels of heavy metals and hazardous chemicals, and that the plant does not meet European Union standards.

The Environment Ministry said in a statement that the plant's incinerator and waste storage facilities do not meet EU standards.

It added that it has asked the Izmit municipality, which runs the plant, to build purification facilities.

On Monday, Turkish police released 12 activists detained for blocking the entrance to the incinerator or climbing up the chimney.

Greenpeace wants Environment Minister Fevzi Aytekin to close down the incinerator.

Aytekin is currently in Stockholm, Sweden, to sign a global treaty banning 12 highly toxic chemicals.

"Turkey's signing of global treaties does not mean that Turkish authorities will implement them," said Melda Keskin, a Greenpeace activist. "We want the ministry to ban the incinerator."

The Energy Ministry closed down the plant in 1998 due to potential health hazards.

The plant was re-opened last year to process medical wastes from hospitals following the 1999 earthquake that devastated large parts of northwestern Turkey.