ecosystem or political zone (eg country) under examination. It therefore 
follows that prioritising species, according to certain criteria, is the first 
step. 
On a world scale, priorities are set out in Red Data Books using 
internationally accepted criteria drawn up by lUCN. These are 
summarised in the important works - 'Birds To Watch' (Collar & Andrew 
1988) and 'Rare Birds of the World' (Mountfort 1988). These show, for 
example, 1000 (over 10%) of the world's 9,000 or so bird species are 
threatened with extinction. Of these, 15 occur in Turkey, either as 
breeding or non-breeding birds. In addition, Turkish experts on flora and 
fauna of the Prime Ministry Undersecretariat for Environment (TC 
Basbakanlik Cevre Mustesarligi) have recently drawn up a draft list of 
Threatened Animals in Turkey on which there are 54 bird species. 
These publications and lists do not, however, always address an important 
issue - that of determining the species for which a country, zone or 
ecosystem has an international responsibility, though Baris (1989) made 
an important contribution towards this. It is for this reason that a list of 
birds of conservation importance in Turkey (table 1) has been drawn up. 
It acknowledges those species that are world endangered and those on 
the Turkish iX-aft Red Data List of Threatened Species. 
Eight criteria were set to recognise birds suitable for inclusion in this 
priority list. Though the thresholds are arbitrary, and it is hard to 
compare the relative merits of different classes, the resulting list gives an 
idea of the birds that are most important in Turkey and those most in 
need of action. Species unlisted do not meet these criteria and appear to 
show secure, non-localised populations that are not of international or 
regional importance. These criteria have been adopted from those used 
to determine the spedes for inclusion in Red Data Birds in Britain (NCC 
& RSPB 1990). 
The Soxirces of Data 
In drawing up these criteria and thus table 1, it quickly became obvious 
that for many spedes there simply was not suffident data on which to 
make an objective assessment. ITierefore where it proved impossible for 
determining International or Regional significance (see below) based on 
population data, the proportion of the range was assessed based on the 
most up to date distribution maps available. The sources of reference 
used were 'The Birds of the Western Palearctic', 'An Atlas of the Birds of 
the Western Palearctic', and the 'Turkish Bird Reports'. 
Internationally Significant Breeder (IB) 
For inclusion in this category, more than 20% of the world population, or 
20% of the world range, must be in Turkey. 20% is a subjective figure. 
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