Ramsar sites - the Goksu Delta; Seyfe Golii; Manyas Golii; the Sultan Marshes and 
Burdur Golii. The Turkish Government is to be congratulated on this action 
which marks a milestone in the conservation of Turkey's interna tionally important 
wetlands. 
However, ratification is overshadowed somewhat by current developments on 
the shores of Burdur Golii (see below). 
DHKD has been active for some time trying to get work on the developments 
suspended but to no avail. OSME members may like to express their concern as 
individuals over the lack of an environmental impact assessment by writing to 
the Turkish authorities: Her Excellency, Mrs Tansu (filler, Prime Minister, 
Basbakanlik, Ankara, Turkey, and His Excellency, Mr Riza Akgali, Minister of the 
Environment, CJevre Bakanligi, Istanbul cad. No: 88, Iskitler - Ankara 06060, 
Turkey. 
National Park status for Menderes Delta and Bafa Lake. We have previously reported 
on the important work DHKD (the Society for the Protection of Wildlife) has done 
in campaigning for the protection of this important wildlife resource (e.g. OSME 
Bull. 29:27) . The future of the Menderes Delta and Bafa Lake now seem considerably 
brighter following the Turkish Ministry of Forestry's announcement to designate 
the area a National Park. The Menderes Delta has one of the largest known 
breeding populations of Dalmatian Pelicans Pelecanus crispus (42 pairs in 1989). 
Other breeding birds include Collared Pratincole Glareola pratincola, Stone Curlew 
Burhinus oedicnemus and Mediterranean Gull Larus melanocephalus. In winter the 
area holds hundreds of thousands of wintering waterfowl and waders and up to 
400 Dalmatian Pelicans. Threats to the area have included drainage, large-scale 
land-claim of salt flats, excessive use of agro-chemicals and uncontrolled tourist 
development. In addition to declaring 36,000 ha a National Park, the authorities 
have promised to remove some of the hydrological works that were causing Bafa 
Lake to dry up. DHKDhas been asked to prepare a management plan for the park. 
(Source: World Birdwatch 15: 3.) 
Kazlani's turtles - In 1992 DHKD was involved in saving hatchlings of the Green 
Turtle Chelonia mydas at Kazlani. Factory lights were turned off and other lights 
screened to ensure that hatchlings were not disorientated and reached the sea 
safely. Photopollution was not entirely eliminated and volunteers manned a 
barrier behind the beach to retrieve hatchlings and return them to the sea. 
(Source: Oryx 27: 202.) 
Burdur Golii ecological study - Burdur Golii holds most of the world's population 
of the White-headed Duck Oxyura leucocephala in winter. An ecological study of 
the lake and the White-headed Ducks was carried out in February and March 
1993 by DHKD, The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (based in Great Britain) and 
Burdur Municipality. Numbers of the duck were very low with a peak count of 
3,010 compared with 11,000 in 1991. This is thought to be due partially to poor 
breeding success in recent years because there was a much lower proportion of 
young birds. However, low numbers are due also to illegal hunting pressure 
which was much higher than expected with an estimated 500 to 2,000 being shot 
in the 1992-93 winter. White-headed Ducks are much easier to shoot than other 
species and many hunters are unaware that they are protected. The alkaline and 
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