The iconic Blue Flag is one of the world’s most recognized voluntary awards for beaches, marinas, and sustainable tourism boats. In order to qualify for the Blue Flag, a series of stringent environmental, educational, safety, and accessibility criteria must be met and maintained.

One of the criteria is the following:

Wherever possible stray animals must be managed, and systems should be in place to remove stray animals from the beach. Measures must also be put in place to prevent access to the beach by stray animals.

However, in Turkey's blue flag beaches, there is no mechanism to remove stray dogs from the beaches, and local authorities purposefully bring stray dogs to the beaches. Human safety and hygiene are ignored completely, and stray dogs contaminate the beaches. However, they are still awarded with the Blue Flag! 

Is Blue Flag a worthy award? If yes, then action must be taken to stop misleading tourists who expect to enjoy Blue Flag beaches in Turkey! CANCEL BLUE FLAG on Turkey's beaches that do not comply with the criteria!

İzmir, Çeşme Municipality is bringing stray dogs to Blue Flag Tekke beach and proudly posting it on Twitter: Click here to see.

 

Stray Dog in Blue Flag Tekke Beach in Çeşme, İzmir

 

 

Stray dog in Blue Flag Bakraç Beach in Balıkesir