Resting place of martyrs a monster municipal park
WHAT have they done with Hazreti Ömer Tekkesi?
This beautiful quiet location, the resting place of seven Muslim martyrs, has been turned into a monster municipal park. The seashore once blue with chicory (Cichorium spinosum) and pink with clover (Trifolium pamphyllicum) is now covered with a long metal ramp. The small coastal valley, once full of anemones, carpets of yellow daisies (Anthemis rigida) and white Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum pedicellare) is ploughed up and crisscrossed with concrete pathways and steps. The small Tekke tucked into the cliff is now overlooked by an ugly two-storey building built obtrusively on the rocky reef behind. All nature has been obliterated to accommodate this huge development. The shrine has become an irrelevance, a mere detail, in this new concrete jungle. I cannot imagine the faithful will continue to visit.
For many years I have been guiding wild flower tours together with a professional botanist. For our groups one of the highlights of the tour was our visit to the rocky reef behind the Tekke which was rich in flora particular to this habitat — vegetated sea cliffs — being one of the special habitats listed and studied in the Natura 2000 environmental survey. Every rock crevice and hollow was colonised by little gardens of special plants, including endemics. This rocky reef was particularly abundant in species, having never been disturbed. One could easily write a list of over 60 plants in one hour of study.
To my horror the entire rocky headland behind the Tekke has been buried in topsoil and laid out with concrete pathways, lined with street lamps and planted out regimentally with trees that are not natural to the environment and which will hardly survive exposure to the salty winds and winter storms. Washingtonia palm trees have even been planted on the low reef right down by the sea where they have little chance of survival.
This whole massive, costly project has caused extensive environmental damage to the locality. No account has been taken of geography and topography. What will happen to all that topsoil lying on the rocks in heavy winter rains? How secure are the foundations of all those concrete pathways?
This was once a place of beauty, tranquillity and quiet solitude. It has been environmentally degraded. It has been wrecked. It has been transformed into an urban landscape which I believe does not respect the resting place of the seven Muslim martyrs who have lain for so long, alone, in peace and undisturbed.
Editor’s note: Çatalköy Mayor Mehmet Hulusioğlu said the project, soon-to-becompleted, was being undertaken with the Vakıflar religious organisation which administers the shrine. Asked about the destruction of natural habitat, he said: “This project will redesign the environment around the Hazreti Ömer Tekke which was becoming a rubbish tip and we want to put a stop to that. Do they prefer it to be turned into a tip?”