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

Skid Row

A tragic accident early in the week saw a Turkish car leave the road near Aksaz Beach (on the road that goes past the boat yard and on to Letoon Hotel), and plunge 50 metres to land upside down on the rocks below.

One woman passenger aged 27 died at the scene, and the driver and the other passenger were seriously injured.

Clearly the winding road around the peninsula needs care when driving in the dark, the accident happened at 9pm, in these wet winter months.

Cash for Restoration of Fethiye Attractions Secured

And at the beginning of a new year there is again talk of restoring the amphitheatre in Fethiye.

This week it was announced that funds for restoration of the theatre, and for work to be done on the Tomb of Amintas overlooking the town, have been included in the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s budget for 2011.

Prime Minister Visits Fethiye...

However, the big news of the week was the Prime Minister’s visit to Fethiye on Saturday.

Local press published daily announcements and the village wing even received a recorded phone call via land line urging her to turn up and greet Recep Tayıp Erdoğan on his visit to the town.

In fact his political party did a wonderful job of ferrying in supporters to create a huge partisan crowd listening to his speech.

From early in the morning the main road in from Dalaman was packed with minibuses, small coaches and private cars all flying AKP flags and, we are told, all transport was provided free to ensure the faithful were on hand.

...But Anticipated Change of Status was not Declared

His first job was to symbolically declare ‘open’ over thirty local sites (one being the dam at Dalaman) which the press have not yet listed so we can’t tell you where they are save for the aforementioned dam.

In the event he made a stirring speech but, unfortunately for local press pundits who had predicted he would declare Fethiye to be a separate province, he made no such announcement. We are not surprised.