At the “Clean Sea” event held in Mudanya, attention was drawn to the pollution in the Marmara Sea. A 12-meter banner was hung on the sea and the call was made, “Hands off my sea, Marmara belongs to all of us.”

As part of Environment Week events, the “Clean Sea” event was organized to draw attention to threats to the ecological balance of the Marmara Sea. The event, led by Mudanya Municipality and organized in collaboration with the Demeter Egalitarian Women’s Association, Marmara Change Ambassadors and Bursa Water Collective, was supported by civil society organizations and citizens.

The event began with the gathering of environmental volunteers and speeches at the Mudanya Armistice Square. Baran Güneş,  the Vice Mayor of Mudanya drew attention to the rapid pollution of the seas and said that their aim was to protect marine life and wildlife. Güneş stated that their struggle for the sea, nature and the environment was not for the sake of profit, but for love and the right to life, and said, “The Marmara Sea, this environment is not only a legacy from the past, but also a legacy of our children and future. We have to protect this legacy; it is our duty.”

Mudanya Municipality Council Member and Demeter Egalitarian Women’s Association President Nilgün Arslanoğlu drew attention to the fact that environmental pollution threatens not only natural life but also social justice, and touched on the mucilage problem in Marmara. Arslanoğlu said, “The tulle-looking structures that surround the seabed today are dragging Marmara to death by covering sponges, pinas, corals and sea grasses.”

At the end of the event, participants called for responsibility from both institutions and citizens by saying, “If there is no nature, there is no life.” Then, environmental volunteers, wearing life jackets, entered the sea from the Mudanya Armistice Square beach. The giant banner, 12 meters in diameter, which opened to the sea surface and read “Hands Off My Sea, Marmara is Ours,” was supported with applause from the citizens on the beach.

As part of the event, photographs drawing attention to sea pollution were also exhibited.

MUDANYA MUNICIPALITY PRESS OFFICE