Pre-Pandemic: Boating off Kaş

Posted on by Thor

Boating off Kaş off the southern coast of Turkey. Kaş was founded by the Lycians. In the Hellenistic period and under the Roman Empire it served as the port of the neighboring city of Phellus. In 1923, because of the exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey after the Greco-Turkish War, the majority of the population, which was of Greek origin, was forced to leave the town for Greece. This exchange was based upon religious identity, and involved nearly all the indigenous Orthodox Christian citizens of Turkey. The most often given figure for Ottoman Greeks killed from 1914 to 1923 ranges from 300,000-900,000. Abandoned Greek houses can still be seen. In the early 1990s tourism started booming in Kaş.

Residents of Kaş have social isolated since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March, 2020. Hotels have not accepted guests since the beginning of the outbreak, hopefully postponing bookings until after the disease has subsided. Only health professionals, funeral staff, food suppliers and facilities workers are allowed to enter the town. The resort village remains empty of tourists.

The Turkish lira dropped to a historic low of 7.3677 against the dollar before recovering slightly. The lira is down about 19% versus the U.S. currency since the beginning of the year. Turkey had been hoping for an influx of foreign currency through exports and tourism revenues, but the COVID-19 pandemic has sharply undermined the tourism industry and disrupted global commerce.

Turkey is seeking to re-open its tourism industry, a key contributor to economic growth, for domestic tourists in June, 2020. Foreign visitors are then due to be invited back from some countries in a stepped approach that will include testing and social distancing at hotels and on beaches. Kaş, on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast, is currently free of the COVID-19, but locals are afraid that visitors from virus hit cities could soon bring the disease to the area as Turkey gets set to re-open its tourism sector.

Pre-Pandemic: Kaş

Posted on by Thor

Kaş is a seaside tourist town on the Mediterranean coast in southwestern Turkey. The town center has whitewashed houses and buildings covered in gorgeous bougainvillea. Touristy knick knack shops line the streets. At the end of this very steep and narrow Roman Era pedestrian street is the Lion’s Tomb. The Tomb is a 4th century BC Lycian sarcophagus in a tiny shaded square northeast of the harbor.

The Lion’s Tomb is an elevated three-part sarcophagus. The sarcophagus is classic Lycian, with a pointed arch lid  which is reminiscent of an up-turned boat. Two lions heads project from each side of the lid, hence the tomb’s name. The Lion’s tomb is open at all times with no entry fee, and is nicely lit at night.

After three months of Covid-19 lock down, the Turkish government is allowing domestic and international flights and letting bathhouses, hotels and historic sites to reopen for tourists. Hotel reservations have started to pick up since the second half of June, 2020.

Turkish Airlines will fly to the US with three flights per week to Chicago (starting June 19), Washington DC (starting June 19), Los Angeles (starting June 24), and Miami (starting June 22). Passengers will be required to get an HES code in order to fly internationally, clearing them for takeoff by proving they are not infected with COVID-19 or under quarantine. Additionally, Turkish Airlines has announced more direct flights between Europe and the Anatolia region, where Kaş is located, bypassing the Istanbul hub.

In the new normal, those who think they can overcome COVID-19 only by making a couple of small adjustments will disappear. Americans are unlikely to be allowed as tourism re-opens since they seem incapable of making any adjustments. The aim is to revise the list of acceptable countries every two weeks based on developments.

Turkey’s easing of COVID-19 measures started as early as on May 11, 2020 when the government reopened shopping malls, albeit with new physical distancing and hygiene rules. This was followed by more steps on June 1, 2020 including the reopening of cafes, restaurants and similar places, as well as parks, beaches and recreation. The government also resumed international flights on June 11, 2020 and announced that all tourism facilities, theaters and concert halls would reopen on July 1, 2020. Turkey has seen a new surge in the number of cases since the re-opening with over 1000 new cases a day reported.

Hey, should you visit and need a tomb, I know of one at the top of a slippery and steep hill. It comes with lion’s heads.

Pre-Pandemic: Greek Island of Meis

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The Greek island of Kastellorizo – or Meis, as it’s known in Turkey is a short ferry ride from Kaş in Turkey. It is a hilly little island with plenty of gorgeously colorful tile roofed homes. Kastellorizo is  the name given to the island when it was administered by Italy, and it means Red Castle.

A hike up the hills outside of town offered an overall vista of the town below, but this is the only sketch I squeezed in for the day. The town itself is fascinating to explore with narrow alley ways between building and many staircases going up hills. This peaceful island is worthy of weeks of exploration with a sketchbook in hand.

The quiet waters around this island have become a scene of international contention. Turkey and Greece, NATO allies, vehemently disagree over overlapping claims to oil and gas drilling rights in the region based on conflicting views on the extent of their continental shelves in waters dotted with mostly Greek islands. Tensions rose when Turkey sent a seismic research ship, Oruc Reis, on Monday August 10, 2020 to a disputed area of the Mediterranean, accompanied by warships, days after Greece signed a maritime deal with Egypt. The maritime deal set the sea boundary between the two countries and demarcated an exclusive economic zone for oil and gas drilling rights.

The deal was a response to a similar agreement between Turkey and Libya’s Tripoli-based government last year that has spiked tensions in the East Mediterranean region. The Turkey-Libya deal was widely dismissed by Egypt, Cyprus and Greece as an infringement on their economic rights in the oil-rich sea. The European Union says it’s a violation of intentional law that threatens stability in the region.

Hakar said Turkey would continue to defend its “rights, ties and interests” in coastal waters. “It should be known that our seas are our blue homeland. Every drop is valuable,” he said. Turkey says it has the longest coastline in the eastern Mediterranean but that it is penned in to a narrow strip of waters due to the extension of Greece’s continental shelf, based on the presence of many Greek islands near its shore.

Greece and Turkey have been at odds for decades over sea boundaries but recent discoveries of natural gas and drilling plans across the east Mediterranean have exacerbated the dispute.

Tensions in the eastern Mediterranean took a dangerous new turn on Aug. 13 as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ramped up his hawkish rhetoric against Greece. He warned Greece that if it were to attack a Turkish seismic research ship deployed off a small Greek island, it would “pay a heavy price.” His assertive stance in the eastern Mediterranean maritime dispute is being challenged by a bloc comprising Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel and France.

France, a NATO ally has deployed warships to disputed waters in the eastern Mediterranean in support of Greece. France’s move came after a phone call Wednesday August 12, 2020 between French President Emmanuel Macron and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The Elysee Palace said in a statement that France was going to “temporarily reinforce” its military presence in the eastern Mediterranean so as to “better monitor” the area and ensure that “international law is respected.”

European Union foreign ministers were holding urgent talks Friday August 14, 2020 on military tensions between Greece and Turkey as the neighboring countries’ navies continued a game of brinkmanship over eastern Mediterranean drilling rights.