MEDASSET has now investigated statements made by the Turkish Delegation (Mr Mustafa Akincioglu, Deputy General Director, Ministry of Environment and Forestry) at the 24th Bern Convention meeting at Council of Europe (Strasbourg/France) in December 2004.

· His statement that "what remained of the Soda Chrome factory jetty had been demolished" is totally untrue. The foundations continue to accelerate erosion of the green turtle nesting beach.

· Contrary to his statement, no additional greenhouses have been removed from the dunes since those removed three years ago.

· Evidently the gentleman does not read his newspapers as the Government decision for the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to release 23 million square meters of land in Seyhan- Kazanli for 11 hotels and holiday villages 900 beds each, a camping area with 660 beds and 2 golf resorts with 400 beds each, has been widely reported in the Turkish press. The decision was taken disregarding warnings from the Turkish Association of Biologists and other environmentalists worried about the destruction of a unique ecosystem.

· We cannot of course check his announcement that the factory managers had been compelled to submit a plan for a permanent solution to the 1,5 million tons of highly dangerous toxic waste dumped on the nesting beach covered with plastic sheeting.

As Turkey is on a highly active earthquake zone one wonders what would happen to the whole Eastern Mediterranean Sea if in a natural disaster the whole 1,5 million tons ends up in the sea?

Again, one wonders who in their right mind would want to occupy one of the 11,360 proposed tourist beds nearby?

For a copy of the article in Turkish about tourist development please contact: medasset@medasset.org

MEDASSET