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Gazipaşa (District Municipality, Turkey)

Flag of Gazipaşa - Image by Tomislav Šipek, 11 June 2015

Presentation of Gazipaşa
Flag of Gazipaşa

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Presentation of Gazipaşa

The municipality of Gazipaşa (47,963 inhabitants in 2012, 22,332 in the town proper; 92,052 ha) is located 180 km east of Antalya. Once known as Selinti, the town was renamed Gazipaşa (the Victorious Pasha) by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, as a reward for its contribution to the Turkish War of Independence.

Ivan Sache, 2 March 2016

Flag of Gazipaşa

The flag of Gazipaşa is white with the municipality's emblem in the middle. "Belediyesi" means "Municipality".
The emblem of the municipality features a banana tree and a loggerhead sea turtle, Caretta caretta (Linnaeus, 1758).

Gazipaşa is the home of most national banana production in Turkey. Banana grove covers 4,000 ha, while another 4,500 ha of land is covered with banana greenhouses. Most bananas are grown on steep slopes with a sea view - the sea indeed providing wetness required by the plant.
Introduced from Egypt in 1750 as a garden plant, banana started to be grown for fruit in the 1930s. Production was initiated in the 1950s; the first Turkish bananas were sold on local markets in 1984. Production has remained low and even decreased because of the competition from South American bananas and risk of frost.
[Gazipasa - The Banana Story on Terraces at the Seaside]

The sand beaches at Gazipaşa are one of the places where the loggerhead sea turtles come to lay their eggs. From these beaches, the young ones scuttle to the sea once they hatch from their eggs. Special measures have been put into place by the authorities and voluntary organizations to protect the turtles during the birthing season when they come here to incubate.
Gazipaşa Governor İsmail Gültekin, noting that the sea turtles are laying eggs on the shores of the Mediterranean, underlined that they have taken some measures to protect their nests. Teams have been assigned to the Selinus, Kahyalar and Koru beaches, where the sea turtles lay their eggs. Gültekin also said nests would be identified and constantly monitored. Noting that the first two sea turtle nests were discovered on Kahyalar Beach and are being supervised, Gültekin also said Selinus Beach will be overseen by staff to be assigned by the Gazipaşa Municipality while Kahyalar Beach will be watched by staff appointed by the local forestry directorate and the local municipal administration. Gültekin further said locals would be informed about how to protect the nests and that measures would be taken to ensure that the turtles go out at night to lay their eggs safely.
[Today's Zaman, 18 June 2008]

Tomislav Šipek & Ivan Sache, 2 March 2016