The beautiful and remote beaches of Northern Cypress are relatively unknown to tourists and so are havens for wildlife of all sorts. Every summer sees a protected species of turtles arrive to lay their eggs, and the small Klidhes isles, are home to the last colony of European, Audouin seagulls.Sadly as with beaches worldwide they becoming increasingly polluted. The problem is once again, seaborne plastic rubbish being washed up onto the shoreline. Plastic of course does not rot away so once there that rubbish will be there for decades. This stunning landscape is suffering badly.
And its not just the landscape that suffers, plastic is rubbish is a killer. Turtles choke to death on plastic bags they mistake for jellyfish. Seabirds feed small pellets of plastic to their chicks. Seabirds cant live off plastic so, even though the chicks stomachs are full, they starve to death.
Thats why Lord Maginnis of Drumglass is anxious to help, to do something about it. He has visited Northern Cypress regularly for a number of years and knows it well. He supports the idea of liaison between the authorities and local groups to organise a beach clean up. They know the army would be willing to help transport and dispose of the rubbish, working alongside school children, university students and local volunteers for a coastline long, rubbish busting week of action.
He says, “Turkish Cypriots would be keen to embark on a clean-up but they will need support – litter pickers, bags, promotional tee-shirts, and sponsors. If anyone wants to help, they can contact me at maginnisk@parliament.uk.
Sadly, the Turkish Cypriots are unlikely to get any support from the UK Foreign Office or our High Commission in Cyprus – they have studiously ignored the Human rights of the people in the TRNC for 34 years – it makes me so ashamed”.
