On Monday 5th July at the Boğaz Picnic Area, the Youth Platform, formed by the Municipality of Girne for young people aged 15-21, organised an environmental cleaning awareness event with the slogan “Whose Responsibility is the Garbage?” The event was attended by young people from ÇADER (Çatalköy Development and Culture Association) and the environmental group Take Action. Rubbish was collected, classified and separated. The young people were divided into groups of four and also collected data in this study.
Girne Youth Platform brought food for street animals and donated to the Golden Paws Association. The young people who showed their concern called on everyone to be sensitive to the environment and take personal responsibility.
The youth groups also brought their second-hand books which with other books, to be collected at later events, will be donated to people and institutions in need at the end of the summer.
Talking about the event, Take Action member Erna Yurtdaş said, “We should not lose hope for a cleaner Cyprus, we should all act together.”
Youth Platform Representative Hazay Say Ötun spoke on behalf of the Youth Platform and emphasised that the responsibility for environmental pollution belongs to all of us.
Supporting the event, Çatalköy Development and Culture Association (ÇADER) Member Irene Raab Marancos said, “It gives us hope to organise these events with young people. We did not only collect garbage here, but also learned about the separation of garbage”.
Girne Mayor Nidai Güngördü reminded that the environmental problem created in the Boğaz Picnic Area has been going on for years, and said, “This event is the first step of the work to be done on the recovery of waste materials for recycling. The garbage removed from the Boğaz picnic area will allow us to collect data for research. From the data obtained we will know what we will encounter and how to plan for the future accordingly. We have always said that the Boğaz Picnic area, which is connected to the Forestry Department, should be given to the control of Girne Municipality as we requested previously. We want to welcome the people who come here for a picnic with a nice, clean environment. I would like to thank the Social Affairs Branch of the Municipality Youth Platform and everyone who contributed.”
Source (Turkish) Girne Municipality
