Marine Turtle Newsletter 47:19, © 1989
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Marine Turtle Newsletter 47:19, © 1989
Dogal Hayati Koruma Dernegi (DHKD), The Society for the Protection of Wildlife in Turkey, is organizing a large scale campaign to educate visitors to the Iztuzu beach at Dalyan and the local people on the importance of this beach for nesting loggerhead sea turtles, Caretta caretta. Special protection measures are now accurately carried out by the Directorate for Specially Protected Areas, headed by Tunca Toskay. DHKD, in cooperation with a German conservation organisation which is especially interested in the protection of sea turtles, Aktion Gemeinschaft Artenschutz (AGA), will explain to the foreign and Turkish visitors to the beach why the protection measures are taken and what the visitors can do to help the conservation of the threatened sea turtles. Special information centers have been established on the beach and in Dalyan village, where visitors can watch videos on turtles and receive informative leaflets. The well known graphic designer Sadik Karamustafa designed a set of five postcards that is available in Turkish and English; Karamustafa received tow prestigious art awards for these designs. Furthermore, a large poster is available in Turkish and English which depicts a sea turtle asking the reader: "I am here since 95,000,000 years, and you?" Brochures in three languages are handed to tourists with a request not to camp in the area, not to set up umbrellas, not to leave litter, etc.
DHKD president Nergis Yazgan says: "This is not an end but only the beginning. The good example of Dalyan, in which concern for the conservation of an ecologically important area outrode a huge touristic development plan, leading to the annulation of the whole project, we believe, will set a positive model for many areas in many countries." DHKD is aiming towards something much more ambitious: with the approval and collaboration of the Turkish government and together with World Wildlife Fund (WWF), they want a General Coastal Management Plan for the whole Turkish south coast. DHKD President Nergis Yazgan: "... otherwise piecemeal and unplanned development will ruin the whole Turkish south coast."
For more information, please contact DHKD, PK 18, 80810 Bebek, Istanbul, TURKEY. Phone +9011636324 FAX +9011630582.