Following an outcry from environmentalists, PopFest 2019 is taking precautions to protect endangered sea turtles. The Turkish music festival, originally set for next weekend, has been postponed as a necessary step to ensure the safety of a species.
The event planned in the southern province of Mersin just so happens to be around the same time of the oceanic sea turtle’s spawning period. Carretta carrettas, aka Loggerhead sea turtles, lay their eggs on the seashore and there’s much fear that any sound or light pollution may affect the incubation periods, which usually take course in May.
Organizer Hüseyin Çalışkan officially confirms the festival’s delay in a new report, “We have abstained from harming the environment and listened to the public in Mersin, thus we delayed the festival.” A revised date has yet to be announced.
Turkish singer and founder of Anatolian People and Peace Platform charity network, Haluk Levent took to social media to speak up for the sea turtles. He urged booked musicians to do the same.
His post below translates as follows:
For years, we have organized rallies in that area for the sake of caretta carettas. We applied to the administrative court in Mersin. We forced a sparkling water company to set up a treatment unit. I am not telling you to cancel this festival but find a way to prevent damage in that area.
Caretta caretta’lar için o bölgede yıllarca yürüyüş yaptık. Mersin idare mahkemesine başvurduk. Soda fabrikasına arıtma tesisi kurdurduk.
Şimdi bu festival yapılmasın demiyorum ama bir yol bulunsun o alanlar tahrip edilmesin.
O gün konser verecek sanatçıların da desteği lazım https://t.co/HqEGalld4n— Haluk Levent (@haluk_levent) May 27, 2019
Source: UNILAD | Photo via Wikimedia Commons