Overwhelming Success

Sadly, there is no way to bring these species back to life; nothing we can do to replace them. Some of these species were eradicated by humans because they were regarded as ‘dangerous’ or because their dead bodies were of some kind of use. Too late, however, we discovered that each of these species had its place; that they all contributed to Earth’s biosphere. And what now? Nowadays, there are downright battles against the extinction of plant and animal species. One of these is fought by the members of the Marine Turtle Conservation Project in Northern Cyprus. Marine turtles are some of the world’s eldest living species; they have existed for over 200 million years. However, only seven species remain today. Two species of marine turtles, both listened as threatened species, namely the Loggerhead Turtle (Caretta Caretta) and Green Turtle (Chelonia Mydas), live in the Mediterranean. These endearing creatures waging a life-or-death struggle in the blue waters of he Mediterranean encounter difficulties to find hatching sports. They travel thousands of kilometres yearly, in order to find unpopulated beaches; an extremely difficult task, considering the popularity of Mediterranean coasts. Some beaches of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, however, are still untapped. That is why a considerable number of turtles come to Cypriot shores to lay their eggs year over year. On the Greek side of Cyprus, there are only 4 beaches left for the Caretta caretta and Chelonia mydas to hatch. On the Turkish side, however, there are 85 unexploited beaches providing ideal hatching conditions for the turtles. Ronnas Beach on the Karpass Peninsula is considered the Mediterranean region’s third-most important hatching area of marine turtles and Alagadi Beach near Kyrenia is among the leading Mediterranean beaches with respect to the number of turtle nests laid annually. In order to protect these venues, the volunteers of the Northern Cypriot Society for the Protection of Turtles and the Marine Turtle Conservation Project launched a cooperative operation. This operation is headquartered at Alagadi Beach and has been carrying out preservation works with great care since 1992. a similar project was launched in the Karpass area, another frequent turtle hatching venue, by teams of the Office for Environmental Protection, a department subordinate to the Turkish Cypriot Ministry of the Environment and Health. Each year, from May to September, university and college students from the TRNC, Turkey and countless other countries volunteer to aid in these preservation projects. Thanks to the active help of these volunteers, thousands of Caretta caretta and Chelonia mydas turtles are now able to lay their eggs. Ensuring nesting habitat is an important step in the preservation of these turtle species. Turtle nesting and hatching reports are submitted to research conferences yearly. Many international organizations have noted the immense efforts of Northern Cypriot preservation projects and praised them. In other words, these projects have not only contributed on the survival of these turtle species, but also to the promotion of the TRNC. As a matter of fact we may refer to the preservation projects as an overwhelming success.North Cyprus Holidays One of the ‘heroes’ of the Northern Cypriot Marine Turtle Conservation Project is the veterinary Asaf Senol, the person in charge of the operation from 1993 until 2003. he is an archetypal nature-lover and extremely environment-conscious. Although the subject of our interview is marine turtles , he cannot help mentioning environmental matters as we proceed. ‘We still have a lot of things to do’ he says. Asaf Senol has devoted 10 years of his life to the project and he is still strongly interested in it. ‘From 1993 to 1995, we worked together with a British team at Alagadi Beach. Since 1996, the Ofiice for Environmental Protection and its local volunteers have been working on the shores of the Karpass area, while the foreign team was responsible for the beaches in the Alagadi area’. Mr. Senol emphasizes that the project had attained large successes since its start in 1992. Asaf Senol reminds us of the importance of the project and its international prestige. Furthermore, he emphasizes the rank of the Cypriot beaches: ‘Ronnas Beach on the Karpass Peninsula is considered the Mediterranean region’s third-most important hatching area of marine turtles and ALagadi Beach near Kyrenia is among the leading Mediterranean beaches with respect to the number of turtle nests laid annually. That is why the Alagadi region is a nature conservation area.’ Mr. Senol further emphasized that the Ronnas Cove should also become a protected area, alone because of the immense diversity of its flora and fauna. Moreover, he draws attention to the recent orientation towards special-interest tourism as a reaction to the merciless destruction of seashores and their recreational use. He adds: ‘I believe marine turtle and environmental conservation projects are of great importance for special-interest tourism. For example, we used to offer excursions to marine turtle preservation camps and the hosting of conservative activities for tourists with an operator called Genç Tur. These tours attracted a great deal of interest, especially young people from all over the world took part in them. That is because these tours provided the opportunity to see the island from a much broader perspective and to become acquainted with its life in a much deeper sense. Therefore, I believe our preservation projects are a win-win situation: they help the survival of a race, they promote our island and they attract tourists’.