The Black Sea Sustainable Rural Tourism Program, funded by the EU and Turkey, opens its first national office in K端re Mountains, Turkey. The office will be run by the local NGO K端re Mountains Ecotourism Association (KED) to coordinate sustainable rural tourism efforts in Turkey. KED aims to strengthen sustainable eco-tourism around K端re Mountains and expand throughout the Turkish Black Sea region. The international secretariat will be based in Istanbul to support the program's expansion. Representatives from Turkey, Ukraine, and Georgia attended the opening event to collaborate on rural tourism development in the Black Sea region.
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Turkey BSST Press Release
1. This project is co-funded by the European Union and the Republic of Turkey
April 29th
, 2016PRESS RELEASE
INTERNATIONAL LEAP IN SUSTAINABLE TOURISM IN TURKEY
Black Sea Sustainable Rural Tourism Program opens its first National Office in
K端re Mountains, Turkey
The Black Sea Sustainable Rural Tourism Program, which is an initiative designed by Vesselka Consulting
under the auspices of Sustainable Rural Development International Ltd., aiming to create a community
designed ecotourism network in order to support and promote internationally recognised, certified
and sustainable tourism destinations in the Black Sea Basin, opens its national office in the mid- western
Black Sea Region of Turkey.
The first national office of the Black Sea Sustainable Rural Tourism Program will be operational following
the opening event to be held at the office of K端re Mountains Ecotourism Association at Pinarbai district
of Kastamonu province on May 6th
, 2016 at 14:30. The event is organised within the scope of the Black
Sea Sustainable Rural Tourism Project being jointly implemented by K端re Mountains Ecotourism
Association (KED), a local civil society organisation, and Sustainable Rural Development International
(SRDI), a UK based hybrid non-profit. Management on behalf of SRDI is handled exclusively by Vesselka
Consulting Ltd, also based in the UK.
KED takes on national coordination
The national office will be incorporated within KED to coordinate the operations of the Black Sea
Sustainable Rural Tourism Program in Turkey. KED will put effort into achieving a sound
establishment of the Program around the K端re Mountains and its gradual expansion throughout the
Turkish Black Sea Region. Ismail Mentes, the vice chair of KED, says they are taking on an important
mission:
Since the Programs initial steps in Turkey in early 2013, KED has been an active part of the process.
The Programs choice of K端re Mountains as the starting point is a significant opportunity for us. The
Programs emphasis on sustainable rural economic development and its focus on local communities
wholly corresponds with the eco-tourism focus of KED. We aim to strengthen this approach primarily
around K端re Mountains and expand it throughout the Turkish Black Sea Region.
International Secretariat in Istanbul
Richard Shepard, a Board Trustee of SRDI and Director of Vesselka Consulting Ltd., states that the
Program Secretariat, which is the international organ of the Program, will be based in Istanbul and
explains why they started with K端re Mountains and KED:
The Black Sea Region of Turkey has unique qualities for sustainable rural tourism to support
economic and social development. During our search on where in Turkey to start the Program, we
The content of this release is the sole responsibility of K端re Mountains Ecotourism Association (KED) and in no way reflects
the opinions of the European Union or Republic of Turkey.
2. were impressed by the natural and cultural heritage of K端re Mountains as well as local efforts in
sustainable tourism. It is also a great opportunity to have a local NGO like KED on board, since
engagement of local communities is central to the Program. Within the course of our efforts in the
last four years, Turkey is the first country where we reached the point to physically open a national
office. We have coordinated our work in Ukraine and Turkey with workshops and experiential
exchanges and by July the new national office in Ukraine will be opened in Kyiv. The program
originated in Ukraine and was quickly joined by Turkey with the enthusiastic support of KED. The
experience to be gained here, we believe, will contribute to the future of the Program in general and
the sustainable tourism practices in Turkey in particular.
High level representation at the opening
District governors and mayors of P脹narba脹 and Azdavay will attend the opening event as well as
representatives from Northern Anatolia Development Agency (KUZKA) and the project associates
Zelenye Khutora, a Ukraine based CSO, and Tsinandlis Edemi, sustainable rural tourism venture in
Georgia. In addition, representatives from local CSOs and sustainable tourism businesses along with
local leaders are expected to participate.
Black Sea Sustainable Rural Tourism Project is supported under Civil Society Dialogue Programme.
The Programme aims to bring together civil society organisations from Turkey and the EU around
common topics, to exchange knowledge and experience, and to build a sustained conversation
between them. Around 200 partnership projects have been financed under this Programme which
started in 2008. In this third phase of the Programme, 55 dialogue projects designed and being
implemented by media and civil society organisations are being realized. The Ministry for European
Union Affairs is the responsible institution for the technical implementation of the programme, while
the Central Finance and Contracts Unit is the Contracting Authority of the Programme.
Venue: alkara Mahallesi G端rb端zler Mevkii No:29 (Horma 聴n旦n端 聴lkokulu), P脹narba脹/Kastamonu
Date / Time: May 6th
, 2016, 14:30
For information:
Dr. 聴smail Mente, Vice Chair, KED
T (366) 771 43 33 F (366) 771 43 33 M (531) 242 53 05 E info@ked.org.tr, www.ked.org.tr
The content of this release is the sole responsibility of Sustainable Rural Development International (SRDI) and the K端re
Mountains Ecotourism Association (KED) and in no way reflects the opinions of the European Union or Republic of Turkey.
Richard Shepard, Board Trustee, SRDI; Director, Vesselka Consulting Ltd
T +44 207 549 3662 E bst@vesselkaconsult.com, www.ruralsusdev.org, www.vesselkaconsult.com
息