Governors join forces for the Menderes basin

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Governors join forces for the Menderes basin
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Aralık 19, 2008 00:00

ISTANBUL - The Union for the Büyük Menderes Basin Environment Protection, founded by governorships of three cities, is focused on reforming the basin of this river, the largest in West Anatolia. The union works to reverse the damage from industrial development.

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Aiming to prevent pollution and to protect the ecological equilibrium in the basin of the Büyük Menderes, the biggest river in the Aegean region, the "Union for the Büyük Menderes Basin Environment Protection" organizes projects to help develop the region.

The union, founded in February by the governorships of three Aegean cities - Aydın, Denizli and Uşak - that the Büyük Menderes River passes through, looks forward to providing macro-scale solutions to the tourism and development issues in the region.

Public awareness
"First of all, we aim to create a public awareness concerning environmental issues in the region," Kayhan Kavas, the governor of Uşak, told journalists in Istanbul yesterday. "Raising such an environmental awareness, we are looking into enhancing the tourist, cultural and socio-economic developments in the region," Kavas added.

"We are looking forward to cooperating with the public and private organizations in domestic and international levels to launch and conduct projects for the social, cultural and economic development of the region," said Kavas.

Within the framework of this action plan, the union plans to participate in the 5th World Water Forum, which will be organized in Istanbul on March 16 to 22 next year. By organizing a panel conference and a photograph exhibition, the union aims to attract global attention.

"We do not consider the environmental problem of the basin of the Büyük Menderes as only a local issue," Kavas said. "We will also seek solutions for the global water problem through cooperating with international figures, as well as introducing our region to the world," he said.

Three photographers, Ercan Arslan from daily Milliyet newspaper, Murad Sezer from the Associated Press and Mustafa Özer from Agence-France Presse, will exhibit the photographs of the Büyük Menderes basin that they have taken, during the next World Water Forum.

"The photograph exhibition that we plan to organize during the Forum will voice the situation of our region without any words," said Kavas. "Through this, we aim to increase public awareness. We are aiming to draw attention to the fact that the Büyük Menderes basin, which gave birth to Turkey's leading textile and tourism cities, deserves this level of care."

Speaking at the same conference, Metin Sözen, board chairperson of the Foundation for Protecting and Presenting Environmental and Cultural Values, or ÇEKÜL, said: "If we caused the pollution in the Büyük Menderes basin, we are the ones who have to clean it up. The region has been a cradle for many a civilization and now we are living here. The movement that the Union for the Büyük Menderes Basin Environment Protection launched is not merely an economic or environmental project; it is based on the concentration that aims to integrate the local cultural, social and historical values with the global world," Sözen said.

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