Saving Turkey's sea turtles – in pictures
Turkey’s Iztuzu beach is witnessing a major construction boom. It has also been the egg-laying ground for sea turtles which have been coming ashore for centuries. Due to campaigners’ conservation work and the establishment of a rescue centre, the number of nests on the beach has more than doubled
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Volunteers mark a nest to protect eggs from tourists visiting the scene on Iztuzu beach. All construction work is banned as well as artificial lighting at night, when holidaymakers are kept away and the turtles come ashore to lay their eggs.
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A turtle lays its eggs on Iztuzu beach near Dalyan in Muğla province, Turkey.
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Turtle eggs are counted by volunteers from the Sea Turtle Rescue Centre
Photograph: Umit Bektas/Reuters
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Eggs, which will be transferred to a safer part of Iztuzu beach, are seen in an open nest
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The conservation worker June Haimoff and her friends successfully blocked a hotel construction project which would have endangered the turtles’ breeding ground on the beach. Since then it has remained under protection
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An injured turtle is examined by workers on its arrival at the Sea Turtle Rescue Centre at Iztuzu beach
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Workers prepare to inject beeswax into the shell of a sea turtle injured by a boat propeller. It is one of the main threats the turtles face along with swallowing or getting tangled up in fishing lines, and eating clear plastic items that they mistake for jellyfish
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A wounded baby sea turtle is treated at the centre
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A baby turtle crawls to the sea at Iztuzu beach
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A turtle swims in a tank at the centre. After its conservation success, Iztuzu became established for the treatment of injured turtles from beaches across Turkey
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A turtle swims in the Dalyan river
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A turtle swims back to the sea following its release after treatment at the centre, as tourists look on at Iztuzu beach
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A sea turtle is returned to her open-sea cage after a medical check at the centre
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The loggerhead turtles, along with green turtles, which also live along Turkey’s coastline, are two of the nine types of turtle in the Mediterranean. The animals, which date back 150m years, have a lifespan of 100 to 150 years
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Baby sea turtles crawl to the sea following their release after treatment at the rescue centre
