Turkey's Oludeniz Air Games open

The Oludeniz Air Games were among the very best air games in the world, the Turkish Daily News (TDN) quoted Mugla governor, Ahmet Altiparmak, as saying at the ceremony.

"France is known to be the best place for paragliding," he said. "To me, the best paragliding route in the world is here, in Oludeniz. It is impossible to see the natural beauty here in any other place," he added.

The governor called on participants to be careful about the environment. "We make so many effort to preserve nature," he said. "I ask you to support us in our efforts. Please use as water little as possible, we are quickly losing our natural resources."

The security measures in Mount Babadag, Turkey's most popular paragliding center, were also on the governor's agenda.

Two tourists died and one was seriously injured in paragliding accidents during the summer season.

"We will have teams to inspect the paragliders on Mount Babadag", said Altiparmak.

"We will not let pilots without licenses or pilots under the influence of alcohol fly. We want to make Fethiye the paragliding capital of the world, and the Oludeniz Air Games are on the way to becoming the most popular air games in the world," he added.

The air games, which will close Sunday, will witness demonstrations of paragliding, skydiving, base-jumping, hang gliding, para-motor flights, remote control plane shows, microlites, accuracy landing competitions and death-defying acrobatic competitions.