İztuzu Beach is a 4.5 km long beach near

Dalyan Dalyan is a neighbourhood of the municipality and district of Ortaca, Muğla Province, Turkey. Its population is 5,829 (2022). Before the 2013 reorganisation, it was a town (''belde''). It is located between Marmaris and Fethiye on the south- ...

, in the Ortaca district of the Province of Muğla in southwestern

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. The beach is a narrow spit of land, which forms a natural barrier between the fresh water delta of the Dalyan river and the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

. It is one of the main breeding grounds for

loggerhead sea turtle The loggerhead sea turtle (''Caretta caretta'') is a species of sea turtle, oceanic turtle distributed throughout the world. It is a marine reptile, belonging to the Family (biology), family Cheloniidae. The average loggerhead measures around ...

s (''Caretta caretta'') in the Mediterranean and is therefore often referred to as Turtle Beach. The loggerhead turtle (''Caretta caretta'') is on the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

Red list The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological sp ...

of endangered animals. For this reason the beach has had a protected status since 1988 and is part of the

Köyceğiz-Dalyan Special Environmental Protection Area The Köyceğiz-Dalyan Special Environmental Protection Area is a protected natural reserve in the Turkish province of Muğla Province, Muğla. In June 1988 it was determined and declared the first protected area of its kind (''Özel Çevre Koruma ...

. The greatest threat to the survival of the loggerhead sea turtle is on these sandy beaches where its life begins. This has triggered an international conservation effort that began in the 1990s. The effort to protect loggerhead sea turtle eggs and to assure a safe breeding ground for this endangered species has made international headlines. This issue is one of the most critical items on Turkey's environmental agenda.

History

From 1984 onwards there had been rumours about developing the beach for mass tourism. Plans were discussed for building a hotel and a marina at the delta side and bungalows at ''Küçük Dalyan'' at the banks of Sülüngür lake. In 1986 the owners of the

beach hut A beach hut (also known as a beach cabin, beach box or bathing box) is a small, usually wooden and often brightly coloured, box above the high tide mark on popular bathing beaches. They are generally used as a shelter from the sun or wind, c ...

s were summoned to clear and dismantle their huts by October that year. In April 1987 the rumours about a hotel complex came true, when building started on the Kaunos Beach Hotel, an 1800-bed holiday resort to be financed with German development aid funds. Since this would have meant the end of an important nesting

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

for the loggerhead turtle, June Haimoff, together with fellow-environmentalists such as

David Bellamy David James Bellamy (18 January 1933 – 11 December 2019) was an English academic, botanist, television presenter, author and prominent environmental campaigner in the UK and globally. His distinctive, energetic style of presenting became wel ...

, Lily Venizelos, Günther Peter, Nergis Yazgan and Keith Corbett, launched a campaign to save the beach. This started a grim international struggle between conservationists and developers. There were protests from -amongst others- the

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...

World Wildlife Fund The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the ...

and the Zoologische Gesellschaft Frankfurt. Especially in the Federal Republic of Germany the building project caused great indignation, because German DEG (Deutsche Finanzierungsgesellschaft für Beteiligungen in Entwicklungsländern) wanted to claim a fund of 5 million euros worth from public means under the pretense of "development aid". June Haimoff approached the WWF, upon which

Prince Philip Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 19219 April 2021), was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he was the consort of the British monarch from h ...

-then president- asked the Turkish Prime Minister

Turgut Özal Halil Turgut Özal (13 October 192717 April 1993) was a Turkish politician, bureaucrat, engineer and statesman who served as the eighth president of Turkey from 1989 to 1993. He previously served as the 26th prime minister of Turkey from 1983 ...

for a moratorium, while awaiting an

Environmental impact assessment Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is the assessment of the environmental impact, environmental consequences of a plan, policy, program, or actual projects prior to the decision to move forward with the proposed action. In this context, the te ...

. This request was granted and building temporarily stopped. In the meantime the German Federal Government decided against the use of funds for the hotel by DEG. In July 1988 the Turkish government decided against development and gave İztuzu beach and its hinterland the Special Environmental Protection Area status. June Haimoff has narrated the struggle to preserve İztuzu beach as a nesting habitat in her autobiographical book ''Kaptan June and the Turtles'', that was first published in 1997. In 2001 a Turkish translation was published called ''Kaptan June ve Kaplumbağalar''.

Protection

With an average of some 300 nests per year, İztuzu Beach is one of the prime nesting habitats of the loggerhead turtle in the

. To prevent disturbance and disruption of the turtles and their nests, strict regulations have been imposed by the government since 1988: * From 1 May - 31 October the beach is inaccessible to the public between 20.00 and 08:00, to counter sound and light disturbance * Vehicles and animals are not allowed to enter the beach * In the marked nesting zones parasols and sunbeds are forbidden. Neither is it allowed to lie down on towels or to dig holes. * Speedboats are banned within a 1-mile zone from the beach and in the Dalyan delta and river. Kaptan June at turtle release

These measures have proven to be successful, despite the enormous increase of tourism. The monitoring programme carried out from 1988 onwards, shows a stable population and even a slight increase of nests on the beach.
In 2008, DEKAMER tr">:tr:DEKAMER">tr(Deniz Kaplumbağaları Araştırma, Kurtarma ve Rehabilitasyon Merkezi, ) was established with the mission to conduct detailed scientific studies on sea turtle nesting beaches, provide care and treatment for injured sea turtles, and develop educational projects for the public and interested stakeholders. DEKAMER began its activities on Dalyan Beach in 2009. Every year, the organization also runs a volunteer program where participants engage in fieldwork on the beach and sometimes partake in tourist activities to inform people all around the world.
In February 2011 the ''Kaptan June Sea Turtle Conservation Foundation'' was established, a foundation whose mission is to protect sea turtles and their habitat. The former beach hut of conservationist June Haimoff has been brought back to İztuzu and has been transformed into a small museum. In May 2011 she was rewarded an MBE by

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

for her services to environmental conservation and the protection of endangered turtles in Turkey.

International appreciation

In the period from 1988 onwards the Köyceğiz-Dalyan region has become a popular holiday destination. İztuzu Beach is frequented, both by people living or staying in Dalyan and by day tourists from e.g. Marmaris and Sarıgerme.
In 2008 İztuzu Beach was proclaimed winner in the category ''Best Open Space (Europe)'' by ''The Times'' because of the eco-friendly exploitation of the beach.:
In 2011 Dalyan and İztuzu Beach were proclaimed ''Best Beach Destination of Europe'' by Dutch holiday assessment website Zoover.''Dalyan heeft beste stranden'', De Stentor, 06-07-2011
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References

* Cantecleer Natuurreisgidsen Turkije, Aygün en Max Kasparek, 1992,

External links

Marine Turtle Newsletter: Sea Turtles in Turkey, Prof. Dr. Ibrahim Baran, 1990

Marine Turtle Newsletter: New Legislation to Protect Sea Turtle Nesting Areas in Turkey: Patara, the Goksu Delta, and Ekincik, Clare Whitmore, Gürdogar Sarigül, and Nergis Yazgan, 1990
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iztuzu Beaches of Turkey Turkish Riviera Landforms of Muğla Province Nature reserves in Turkey Tourist attractions in Muğla Province