Trouble in Paradise

Did you hear the one about the Patara Sand Gang? Well I can’t tell you. It goes against the grain.

For sheer badass impudence, the exploits of the Patara Kum Cetesi take some beating. Turns out that for three years a gang of local spivs have been stealing truckloads of sand from the specially protected Patara Beach and selling it on to builders and merchants. Nobody knows how many tons disappeared.

And –  magnificent irony! –  this continued throughout 2020 which was designated the Year of the Ancient City of Patara. So as the Big Names and Personalities were ushered in through the front door, the trucks of sand reversed out of the back. Prices ranged from $17 to $250 a truckload, which seems an even bigger price differential than Kalkan market.

“Cheaper than chips! Cheaper than Asda!”

But the sands of time, along with their luck, ran out. Some of those involved got a little bit too bold and started offering villas founded on concrete from genuine Patara sand; and doubtless ‘genuine fake Patara sand’ as well.

At this point the Old Bill got wind of it and Unifom came knocking on doors. Twenty people have been arrested and are, according to Hurryiet newspaper, looking down the wrong end of a prison sentence.

If you think three years is a long time for this rather outrageous heist to have been going on, then you are not aware of how good the locals are at keeping a secret.

I made the mistake recently of making a complaint about the continuing illegal building around us in the mountains. Every winter the hills come alive with the whine of chainsaws, the rumble of cement trucks and the wheezy clatter of heavy construction plant. I finally get to the point where I snap and make a complaint, which does not make me popular. The village code, says you do not tell on your neighbour: child abuse, wife abuse, animal abuse or environmental abuse, same applies. Gizli

Apart from attracting hostility an official complaint seems to serve little purpose. Apart from a token one or two in special conservation areas I have never seen a local construction project stopped yet. Even the most outrageous ones like the four story monoliths that have been plonked down in the hills above us. These actually drew the attention of the national press

‘Villa construction in Kaş Increases since Planning Amnesty’ screamed the headline of an article by Aysel Alp in November 2018 in the daily Hürriyet

The Mayor at the time, Halil Kocaer was interviewed and explained that, when Islamlar was a village, random villas were built and these benefitted from the Planning Amnesty (Imar Barışı).

He went on to talk of Margaz near Üzümlü “with its grapevines, clean air and water, Margaz is an area which must be protected. Unfortunately because of holiday villa construction it has become a cash cow. We the Municipality will take measures.”

Fine words Halil Bey! Come and see Margaz now. Let us start with the Margaz Palas, pictured below and finished just recently

Halil Kocaer left the room three years ago and a new mayor has been voted in. But nothing has changed. Every year hundreds more rental villas are added to the villages, many of them on land slip areas where all construction is forbidden,.

And those four story blocks featured in the Hürriyet article have now been completed. They sit behind perimeter fencing topped with razor wire and they sport garish geen neon lights around the rooflines. Visible from space no doubt.

However, I shall not be popping in to the Zabita offices again anytime soon. I have made my peace with the neighbours. “Finish your buildings” I said with the airy confidence that comes from knowing that nothing that I say or do will make a blind bit of difference anyway.

Who can blame them? They see an opportunity to earn from tourism in a way that they have no hope of matching from agriculture or low paid service jobs. So agricultural land is being traded at inflated development prices. The chainsaws are being sharpened. The villagers need the income that tourism development brings.

But is allowing uncontrolled building on a landslip zone a wise way of establishing a sustainable tourist business for the future generations of local people? Wise heads are proposing that Islamlar for example must have an updated geological survey. Then the risk of landslip can be reassessed and, those areas deemed safe, can be opened for controlled development (Imar). Then a sustainable blend of conservation and newbuild plus the necessary infrastructure can be encouraged.

In the meantime Belidiye Başkan Bey, Kaymakam Bey please halt the rush to illegal construction. And please act before all the stone cottages, olive trees and grapevines that tell the history of these beautiful mountains are gone.

By comparison a few hundred truckloads of stolen sand seem a minor problem. The dunes do not look any lower to me.

Am I alone on this one?