“It’s up to us to learn to live in harmony with nature”: the baby boom of sea turtles on the Turkish coasts

These marine reptiles are included on the red list of threatened species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). KEMAL ASLAN/AFP

Sometimes helped by volunteers to crack their shells, baby turtles attack life with a first challenge: reaching the water bathed by the moon on a Turkish beach in the Mediterranean.

The journey promises to be uncertain and only one child in a thousand will survive until adulthood and then return to the sand where they were born to lay eggs there, 25 years later.

The number of nests has doubled this year on the Turkish coasts to reach 700 in the locality of Manavgat alone (south), east of Antalya: proof that despite threats, protection measures bear fruit.

A group of volunteers watches over this stretch of coastline, a 10 km tourist site nestled at the foot of the mountains, popular for its golden sand and clear waters, which is also a breeding area for Caretta caretta , commonly called Loggerhead turtles.

These marine reptiles are listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.

"Our average estimate for this year is about 60,000 eggs, of which 30,000 will hatch into baby reptiles. Only 30 of them will return here in years,” Seher Akyol, the founding president of the Dekafok marine conservation center, told AFP.