We continue our round up of the local news for Fethiye and surrounding villages.

Calls for 12 Month Tourist Season as 300,000 are Laid Off

It was announced that nationally around 300,000 people were laid off at the end of the tourist season, despite Turkey as a whole being visited by almost 29.5 million tourists during 2010 to the end of November.

There are now national calls for the elusive ‘twelve-month tourism’ to become a reality – but the majority of hotels in Fethiye are still closed for the winter.

Killer Caught

Remember last week’s item about the killing of Tolgay Tutar by a young man called Adnan Ülger who had been his friend since they met during military service?

The police caught up with Ülger the day after the killing and it turned out the two young men had fought a few days earlier, Ülger had lost the fight and for that reason he had shot and killed Tutar.

Ülger is now remanded in custody charged with premeditated murder.

Local Museum Popular

Many readers know the Yörük Museum in Kargı village as a venue for a delicious breakfast.

In 2010 no less than 50,000 people have visited the Museum (how many ate breakfast hasn’t been specified) and founder and owner, Enver Yalçın held a press conference this week to announce his success.

He set up the Museum in 2005, scouring villages in the mountains to amass his collection of objects and utensils representative of a way of life that no longer exists. Interestingly, Enver says his visitors are equally divided between Turks and foreigners.

Officials say Hydro Plants will have No Impact on Saklıkent Canyon

And the regional powers that be in Muğla went into major damage limitation mode this week, to scotch rumours that two small hydroelectric plants planned for the Eşen River on its lower reaches, would have a detrimental effect on the flow of water through Saklıkent Canyon.

The Chair of the Regional Assembly visited the area and firmly stated that, with almost 2000 such hydroelectric schemes already in place across Turkey, this is not untried technology and conditions in the Canyon will not be affected.