TRNC joins campaign to save sea daffodils

THE Forever Friends Group has taken part in environmental events in Turkey to promote the protection of sea daffodils.

The group, which raises awareness of the environment and cultural heritage, were invited by İstanbul’s Sariyer Municipality to their Kilyos Environment and Art Days. Özkan Korun, İsmail Başarır and retired teacher Mustafa Arpalıklı represented their group at the eighth Sea Daffodil Festival, where they manned a stand to publicise their work in North Cyprus since the group was founded in 2013 and made a forum presentation on the protection of the plants.

Dr Korun said the group had started with beach-cleaning activities after founder members noticed rubbish while walking on the beach, and this had gone on to include cleaning activities along the coastline and in forest areas, attracting a growing membership. One of their “shock” protests has included picking up cigarette butts left on beaches and filling plastic bottles with them before attaching them to a clothes line and putting them on display on the beach with a sign saying, “Your Works of Art”.

Forever Friends organised a “No To Plastic Bags” activity at Gazimağusa’s municipal market, where they handed out paper bags to shoppers, and have staged bird-watching and tree-planting activities. The group also alerted an expert from İstanbul to inspect the 720year-old sycamore tree in front of the Lala Mustafa Paşa Mosque over concerns that it showed signs of rot. The expert submitted a report to the town’s municipality, which sent a team to tend the tree.

At the end of the forum, it was decided that a joint Sea Daffodil Protection Platform would be established.