The popular sport climbing area of Geyikbayırı in Turkey is under threat from the the mining industry! I know loads of CC Members have climbed on Geyikbayırı’s world-class limestone cliffs, enjoyed the friendly banter at the many climbing oriented accommodation spots, and taken in the beauty of the area. Yet there’s a risk that those who haven’t yet been may not get the chance if the exploration permit granted in December 2014 leads to exploitation of the area. Geyikbayırı is just 25km from Antalya – a super easy place to get to thanks to the cheap flights servicing the holiday market in this area. Geyikbayırı has developed into a premier sport climbing destination with more than 1000 sport routes and accordingly attracts some 10k visitors a year. Of course all that makes a significant contribution to the local economy.
The area is also the start (or finish) point of Turkey’s first long-distance trail, the Lycian Way.
There’s a online petition calling for the cancelation of the exploration permit. If you feel strongly perhaps it’s worth two minutes of your time to add your name?
Koon on the pillar Ranger Travel ay Trebenna West Orta.
I’ve just come back from there in the wee small hours this morning. There was a van with posters about a public meeting which took place a day or 2 before we arrived, but nothing else to indicate what was going on. You’d have thought there would be posters everywhere and local climbers asking visitors to support their campaign. The only thing we heard (whether true or not) was that the granting of the permit was as a result of some personal grudge or something; with so much rock and so much existing mining in the area the rock in this particular cliff surely cannot be better than anywhere else.
Hi ya Hilary, yeah that might be the case – that some local funny politics are a cause, I don’t know – but the effect is still a risk of a great climbing venue getting trashed. Surely it’s gotta be worth two minutes of time to sign the online petition? So little to pay, two minutes effort, so much to gain! 🙂
Signed 🙂