Oomer onal chicken was a child, the Cesme peninsula was a beautiful backwater. It was in the 1990s that developers began throwing up the hotels that have since made this spot on Turkey’s Aegean coast famous among middle-class tourists. Now the Turkish government has set aside another sixth of the peninsula for the kinds of projects developers hope to attract the very wealthy. Golf courses, marinas, hotels and residences could replace more than 5,000 hectares of forest. Wetlands sheltering more than a hundred species of birds are also to be filled. “It’s all about making money,” sighs Mr. Onal, a local historian.
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Similar transformations are underway all along the Turkish coastline. Since the 1980s, countless fishing villages have given way to sprawling, mostly low-cost resorts. Nowadays, tourism and giant construction projects are vital for the economy. And the growing trend is for the construction of posh resorts that attract ultra-wealthy visitors from the Arabian Gulf and (this year) Russia. Several oligarchs have reportedly moved their superyachts to Turkish marinas after European countries imposed sanctions on their assets and began seizing boats.
Permission to develop the Cesme Peninsula was granted by an edict issued by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2019. In a flash, this edict also expanded the borders of dozens of other areas in Turkey that were reserved for the tourism industry. Watchdogs say the radical order is another illustration of the autocratic means by which Mr Erdogan rules. Environmentalists warn that creeping concrete along the coastline will likely increase temperatures in fragile regions that are already experiencing worsening wildfires. Flames erupted in parts of Cesme in July, including some of the areas meant to host the new developments.
Some on the peninsula are nevertheless enthusiastic. They say the area badly needs better housing and could also use more jobs. But opponents are challenging the project in court. The kind of people who stay in fancy hotels and posh residences won’t give much money to local businesses, believes Mujdat Timucin, a cafe owner. “They will arrive by helicopter,” he sniffles.
