NEWS

Governor says banned Fethiye music festival over ecological concerns

The governor of the Fethiye district of the southwestern resort city of Muğla has announced that it has banned the “MilyonFest” music festival because of its possible adverse effects on the ecological balance.

The İnlice Public Beach, where the festival was planned to take place, is within a protected area, and intense human activity due to the festival would be harmful, the district governor’s office said in a written statement on August 24. The ban was revealed by the municipality a day before.

The district governor’s office cited the opinion of the Fethiye Forest Management Directorate and petitions for the cancellation of the festival by the İnlice Neighborhood head and the İnlice Development, Improvement and Environmental Protection Association.

The festival became the third music festival banned in Türkiye this year. The two previous bans had been imposed for “public security” reasons.

After the governor’s statement, the MilyonFest company, the festival organiser, said it was looking for alternative solutions to hold the festival.

“After this development that we never expected, we are working on alternative solutions, including changing the location of the festival,” it said in a written statement.

The Gökova Assembly, an environmental group affiliated with the Muğla Environmental Platform, said the decision to ban the festival was “right and consistent,” while questioning the sincerity of the motives of the authorities.

Pointing out hotel and highway projects in other protected areas in the city, the group said, “We doubt the sincerity of the Muğla Governor’s Office.”

Source: https://m.bianet.org/english/local-goverment/266297-governor-says-banned-fethiye-music-festival-over-ecological-concerns-motives-questioned

Driver of jeep safari accident in Marmaris arrested

The driver of the jeep involved in the accident that occurred on 24 August in Muğla’s Marmaris district, in which 5 Iraqi tourists lost their lives, was arrested on Friday.

During the safari trip in Marmaris, 5 Iraqi citizens lost their lives in the accident that occurred as a result of the jeep overturning. Jeep driver MA, tour company owner CA, and car driver AKT, who crashed into tourists who were thrown from the vehicle during the accident, were detained.

On investigation and inspection of the vehicle by experts, it was determined that the driver of the safari vehicle was at fault. The other driver involved in the accident and the road structure were not defective, the mechanical infrastructure of the safari vehicle and the seat belts were sound and the tires and similar equipment were suitable for the tour, according to the preliminary report of the machine expert. The report concluded that the driver’s actions were at fault and the deaths were caused by passengers not wearing seat belts.

The tour company owner CA was released on condition of judicial control, while the jeep driver MA was arrested and sent to prison. The driver of the other vehicle involved in the accident, AKT, was released after his statement at the prosecutor’s office.

Jeep driver MA claims to have warned tourists many times about seat belts and that he lost steering control on the road that became slippery due to the rain and the vehicle overturned.

Source: Gerçek Fethiye

‘SMARTIUM CLEAN’ to collect solid waste from the sea

‘SMARTIUM CLEAN’, produced by Koç Savunma, has joined Fethiye Municipality’s cleaning fleet to collect solid wastes on the sea.

Smartium Clean, which was tested in the bay, aims to protect the seas by collecting waste quickly and to support the ecosystem by purifying it from pollution.

Fethiye Mayor Alim Karaca used Smartium Clean to serve Fethiye. Karaca said, “We brought ‘smartium clean’ produced by Koç Defense to our Municipality. SMARTIUM CLEAN will add strength to our fight for a clean environment by collecting solid waste in the sea.”

Source: https://gercekfethiye.com/smartium-clean-denizde-kati-atiklari-toplayacak/50068/

Antalya Airport’s capacity to be expanded

The airport in the province of Antalya, on the Mediterranean coast, will be expanded to serve more passengers, while Russian tour operators plan to use the airport for connecting flights to third countries in winter.

The city’s airport recently saw a sharp increase in the volume of passenger traffic as nations eased the COVID-19-related restriction, giving a boost to tourism activity.

While many airports in other countries are suffering from staff shortages, Turkish airports emerged from the crisis in the aviation sector, triggered by the pandemic, well prepared for the rebound in passenger traffic.

Operators of the Antalya airport, Fraport-TAV, are now working to expand the capacity.

Fraport-TAV plans to increase the airport’s capacity to serve 80 million passengers with a total investment of 750 million euros. The first phase of the expansion work is expected to be completed by January 2025. The area of the international terminal will be increased from 142,000 square meters to 267,000 square meters.

A new aeroplane parking area for 181 jets is being built with a new fuel farm with underground pipelines. A new tower and additional international terminal will be built in 2030 and 2040, respectively.

Fraport-TAV will operate the airport until 2052.

Ephesus to be reconnected to its ancient harbour

The ancient city of Ephesus, located in the western province of İzmir, is set to once again have a harbour on the Aegean coast.

In the ancient era Ephesus; which is today one of Turkey’s top tourist attractions, was connected to a harbour on the Aegean Sea with a broad canal, but the port and the canal have silted up by the Cayster River in the years since.

The “Antique Canal Project” will refill the canal and eventually link the ancient harbour to the sea once again.

Some 60 percent of the piling works in the construction have been completed as the first phase includes a 600-meter-long channel and a 100-meter-wide and 250-meter-long marina that will provide short-term accommodation for boats in the area.

The goal is to increase the number of tourists coming to Ephesus every year and make it one of the most important destinations in Türkiye. The project will be completed by the end of 2022.

SPORT

Fethiyespor

Thank you to Brian Lloyd for the Fethiyespor update.

New sponsor for Fethiyespor

Dental Health Center Holident is now one of the official sponsors of Fethiyespor for the 2022-2023 season. Holident’s name will now appear on the shorts that Fethiyespor will wear during the competitions.

Team Update

Fethiyespor signed seven new players this week; Mustafa Apardı from 1922 Konyaspor ; İlyas Yılmazer from 24 Erzincanspor; Fethiyespor youth players Erdinç Acu and Cihan Kazan; Doğancan Kılıç from Sivas Belediyespor; Burak Özduman from Fenerbahçe; Oğuzhan Bayram from Gönen Belediyespor.