Here is KTLN's report on the foreigners meeting in Kaş on Saturday 25th September.

The meeting was chaired by local resident Colin Andrews, and was addressed by senior Turkish politician, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Antalya Deputy, and Vice Chairman of the AK Party, in charge of Foreign affairs, and Chairman of the Turkish Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Following a few introductory speeches, the main business began, in front of an audience of over 100 people - mostly foreigners, but also present were a number of Turkish people.  There was a small contingent from Kalkan at the meeting.

Marine Pollution
The first significant item on the agenda was the subject of marine pollution (waste/sewage), along the whole of the Lycian coast.

Experienced marine biologist Paolo Guglielmi outlined the problem, which falls into three categories: untreated discharges from properties (villas and hotels); untreated discharges from boats, and the inadequate treatment of waste in municipality sewage treatment plants.  This is a latent, but worsening problem.

An organisation is being established to champion efforts to improve the situation, however Paolo said that success would be impossible without the support of the Turkish authorities, at all levels.

Paolo stressed the need for people to act together on this, saying we should all be on the same side.  It is important for individuals, and also for the future of the local economy, with so many businesses reliant upon  tourism.

The local harbour master commented that things were not as bad as people were making out, citing regular checks on water quality.  However his remarks did not appear to strike a chord with many in the audience.  A local hotelier claimed that hotels should not take all the blame, as there were more privately owned properties than hotels, contributing to the problem.

Another member of the audience made the point that pollution on land was also an issue, with unsightly rubbish left in many places.

Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu responded before leaving the meeting.  He thanked people for coming and for speaking, and said he had found the meeting useful.  He commented that ultimate responsibility lies with the municipalities, but he said that he would ask the relevant Ministry to investigate the problems raised. 

He said that checks need to be stronger, and that the Ministry of Tourism would look at the operation of local treatment plants.  He commented that it was all very well having fine hotels, but if the sea water is polluted, this is no good.  He said that he hoped these problems would be resolved soon.

This one item was discussed for the best part of one and a half hours, out of the planned two hour session.

Kaş Marina
Following a break, the meeting resumed, introducing Selena Bieber (Corporate Communications Specialist), of MAKYOL, the Kaş marina construction contractors.

The construction of the actual marina moorings should be completed in October/November 2010 and is planned to open for use in April/May 2011.

Decisions have yet to be made regarding concessions for retail outlets, restaurants, cafes and bars, hotels and apartments.  This will be the responsibility of the marina management company.  It is envisaged that the completed site will attract a '5 star demographic'.

Construction information is available on the MAKYOL website.

More information on the marina can be found here: Kaş Marina website

Information from Turkish government
This final agenda item was intended to focus on how foreigners are made aware of changes in Turkish law.  Recent examples where foreigners have had difficulty understanding what is going on, are the visa rule changes of July 2010, Universal Health Insurance and apparent issues with property insurance provided with Intasure, (a UK based insurance intermediary).

The Kaş Chief of Police said that as residents and guests of Turkey, it is the responsibilty of the individual to ensure adherance to Turkish law , and we should not expect to be informed of changes or amendments as and when they occur.  Ignorance of the law is no excuse.  (To be fair, that is only the same as in other countries, including Britain - residents or visitors to any country are expected to know the laws of the land).

Most of the time on this agenda item was spent discussing the Intasure problem.  In a nutshell, foreign residents who insure their property through Intasure are deemed to be breaking Turkish law.  The Police in Kaş have obtained a list of policy holders, (we don't know how this was obtained), and have been instructed by the Ministry of Finance to advise policy holders of the problem - thereby providing them with an opportunity to do something about it.

Apparently, there are 19 properties in Kaş and 108 in Kalkan, that are potentially affected.  It has been suggested that policyholders will be required to respond to the Police or Jandarma, to confirm that they have received this notification.  However, Kalkan Turkish Local News spoke to the Jandarma in Kalkan this week, and they have not yet received any such instructions to approach policy holders in Kalkan.  We will keep you posted on this.

Incidentally, KTLN has spoken to the Managing Director of Intasure in the UK, who is presently awaiting legal advice on the matter from his Turkish lawyers.