Loggerhead turtle in the context of "Cheloniidae"

Köyceğiz is a municipality and district of Muğla Province, Turkey. Its area is 1,329 km, and its population is 39,242 (2022).

The town of Köyceğiz lies at the northern end of a lake of the same name (Lake Köyceğiz) which is joined to the Mediterranean Sea by a natural channel called Dalyan Delta. Its unique environment is being preserved as a nature and wildlife sanctuary, the Köyceğiz-Dalyan Special Environmental Protection Area. A road shaded with trees leads to the township that carries the same name as the river, Dalyan, which is situated on the inland waterway and is administratively a part of the neighboring district of Ortaca. Dalyan is highly popular with visitors and its maze of channels can be explored by boat. The restaurants which line the waterways specialize in fresh fish. High on the cliff face, at a bend in the river, above the ancient harbor city of Caunos, tombs were carved into the rocks. The Dalyan Delta, with a long, golden sandy beach at its mouth, is a nature conservation area and a refuge for rare loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) and blue crabs.

Episkopi Bay (Greek: Κόλπος Επισκοπής; Turkish: Piskobu Körfezi) is a bay west of the Akrotiri Peninsula on the south-western shore of Cyprus, between Paphos and Akrotiri. On the other side of the Akrotiri Peninsula is Akrotiri Bay. It is famous for its beaches and fish restaurants. Despite the Turkish invasion and ensuing ethnic division of Cyprus in 1974, a number of Turkish Cypriots chose to remain in the area.

Episkopi Bay is a nesting ground for green and loggerhead turtles, both of which are on the IUCN list of endangered species. Episkopi Turtle Watch is a local volunteer group dedicated to the conservation of the turtles and their nesting beaches.

The Köyceğiz-Dalyan Special Environmental Protection Area is a protected natural reserve in the Turkish province of Muğla. In June 1988 it was determined and declared the first protected area of its kind (Özel Çevre Koruma Bölgesi) of Turkey. In 1990 the original SPA area was extended westwards. Up to now, there are fourteen natural reserves with this status, of which Pamukkale is probably the best-known. All these areas are under the supervision of the ÖÇKK, the Turkish Environmental Protection Agency for Special Areas.

The area got its special status as a result of Prince Philip´s request to the Turkish Prime Minister Turgut Özal for a moratorium on the construction of a hotel complex at İztuzu Beach, while awaiting an environmental impact assessment. At the time Prince Philip was President of the WWF, which had been approached by environmentalists such as June Haimoff, Günther Peter, David Bellamy, Lily Venizelos, Nergis Yazgan and Keith Corbett to help stop the construction of a hotel complex at the beach. İztuzu Beach was one of the main nesting areas for the endangered loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta), and the environmentalists were trying to preserve the turtle’s habitat. In September 1987 the construction project was suspended for an environmental impact assessment, and in 1988 the Turkish government decided upon a construction prohibition because of the area’s special significance. That was not only because of the natural importance of the beach and its significance as a turtle habitat, but also because of the cultural and historical significance and the geological importance of the Dalyan-Köyceğiz hinterland.Because of its protected status, the area offers good and ample opportunities for ecotourism and recreation. For one, the Köyceğiz-Dalyan SEPA boasts the most fantastic panoramic vistas.

June Haimoff (MBE) (27 December 1922 – 23 April 2022) was an English environmentalist who lived in Dalyan in the Turkish province of Muğla. In the period from 1984 to 1988 she and fellow-environmentalists such as David Bellamy, Lily Venizelos, Günther Peter, Nergis Yazgan and Keith Corbett launched a successful campaign to preserve İztuzu Beach as a habitat for the endangered loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta). This beach is one of the main nesting places of the species in Turkey and the Mediterranean.