Municipality slammed for sending bulldozers to caravan site

BÜYÜKKONUK Municipality was criticised after sending bulldozers to clear an area on its caravan site to the west of Kaplıca beach without District Office approval.

Mayor Ahmet Sennaroğlu was unavailable for comment on Thursday but head of the councilrun facility Serkan Yıkıcı said: “Caravans and a catering caravan were sited on the rocks which was unsuitable and unsightly.

“We had already paved the dirt road to the rocks and needed to clear the scrubland as the dry riverbed is ideal for snakes, especially after so much rain this year.

“A temporary wooden restaurant has been erected immediately behind the beach, caravans resited with better facilities and we will plant saplings later this year to improve the site. We love nature here and are not about to destroy anything.”

The municipality has also installed toilets and showers, and Mr Yıkıcı added: “The rocks are now cleaned up and since it is a perfect place to dive, we have installed a diving board. İskele District Officer Mustafa Ürüncüoğlu visited the site for an inspection early [on Thursday] morning before we began work at 10am.”

The municipality caravan and camping site was authorised in 2015 and led to confrontations between unlicensed caravan owners and municipality workers and police in 2017 after notices to quit were issued by the mayor.

The original caravan site to the east of the beach is run by Kaplıca local Hasan Genç. Villagers and visitors traditionally “set up home” on the local beach during the summer to escape the heat.