SUSTAINABILITY

The Çeşme Tourism Project, which is at the planning stage, is an initiative of the Culture and Tourism Ministry of Türkiye. Feedbacks from all stakeholders were retrieved and the scope has been finalized. The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Report regarding the Project was submitted to all relevant stakeholders on 17 November 2021. Scientists, botanists, zoologists, ecologists, and geologists from the most important universities of Türkiye have collaborated in order to reveal the sustainability-oriented approach of the Çeşme Project and to reflect on all planning processes. During the preparation process of the project, reports prepared by 7 universities were used and the contributions of 40 academicians from 15 universities were received. 3 separate transportation study reports containing detailed scientific and technical results on the evaluation of the possible effects of the planned facilities on the İzmir-Çeşme Highway (O-32) and İzmir-Çeşme State Highway (D300) were prepared by the Departments of City and Regional Planning and Civil Engineering of Middle East Technical University (METU), İzmir Institute of Technology (IZTECH) and Mersin University (MEÜ). The project was prepared by taking the opinions of the local people living in the region, as well as the consultancy firms, public institutions and organizations, country and regional NGOs. In the design of the project, 12 transportation experts, 18 city planners, 5 urban designers, 3 geographic information system experts, 8 sustainability experts, 30 architects and 9 landscape architects took part.

https://izmir.ktb.gov.tr/TR-312355/kultur-ve-turizm-bakani-mehmet-nuri-ersoy–turk-turizmi-

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Also, IZTECH students developed an underwater robot. Under the supervision of Mechanical Engineering Department faculty members Dr. Ünver Özkol and Dr. M.İ.Can Dede, the project was developed. The team, which included Özgür Akman, Özgür Atik, Kadir Kurbe, Güven Mamikoğlu, M.Kürşat Özdemir and Ozan Vardal, also received an award from TÜBİTAK for the project they named ROV-IZTECH. ROV robots can be used for various purposes, including commercial activities such as observation and operations of oil pipelines, academic activities such as underwater geological and archaeological research, and military activities such as mine detection-destruction and port security.