TDN
The Mugla Culture and Tourism Department has banned slippers, towels, and now sunbathing in its obsessive efforts to protect the famous Cleopatra beach on the island of Sedir, leading tourists to protest against these new rules.
The ban on slippers and towels came two years ago and this year the municipality decided to protect the sand from the effects of intense sunbathing by tourists. The rules have led to a serious decline in the number of tourists visiting the beach.
While a rope placed across the beach to keep sunbathers away further enforced the ban, this barrier could not keep foreign tourists from holding a sit-in in the sea to protest the latest move.
One tourist rubbed some sand on her body in protest and said: "We come here to swim and sunbathe on this beach we heard so much about."
They should create awareness instead of imposing bans, another tourist said, not knowing how things work in Turkey.
While the slipper and towel ban could make sense in terms of preserving the sand, one tourist said, placing a rope between the beach and the sea was appalling.
Another suggested that a shower near the beach could ensure the sand that got stuck on bathing suits could remain on the beach.
Local support:
Locals who earn their living from tourism supported the protest by tourists. Owners of ships that conduct tours for tourists in the region are also opposed to the ban, noting that many of their customers no longer want to visit the famous Cleopatra Beach.
"We have been bringing local and foreign tourists to this beach for years. With these bans, there has been a sharp drop in the number of visitors. We have trouble explaining to customers why they can't go to the beach," one tour manager said.
‘To protect the sand'
Mu#287;la Culture and Tourism director, Osman Murat Süslü, said that the ban was imposed to protect the sand, arguing that studies showed that there had been a gradual decrease in the level of the sand on Cleopatra Beach in the last 20 years, while speaking to the Do#287;an news agency.
"We took some precautions. Tourists carried away the sand stuck on their bathing suits. We banned sunbathing on the beach to prevent that. Tourists can use the deckchairs behind the beach to sunbathe."
Egyptian sand
According to local urban legend, the sand on Cleopatra Beach was brought over from Egypt over 2,000 years ago by a Roman, Mark Anthony, for his lover Cleopatra.
In fact, the crystallized sand particles formed through the high carbonate content of the seawater solidified over millennia.
These special sand particles, all of which are almost equal in size with a diameter of less than one millimeter, look more like fish eggs and are said to be present only on Cleopatra Beach and the Red Sea shores.
