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JUNE HAIMOFF (KAPTAN JUNE)
June Haimoff is an environmentalist who settled in Dalyan, in the southwestern Turkish province of Muğla in 1984. She launched a successful campaign for the conservation of the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) and its habitat. For this species Iztuzu Beach near Dalyan is the main nesting area in Turkey.
Ms. Haimoff was born in Essex on 22 December 1922 as the daughter of Christopher and Madeleine Fairey and was christened Joan Christine Fairey. From the age of five she took ballet and music lessons. Her father often worked abroad on government projects and later as a petroleum engineer. As a result, she lived in Uganda for a while and travelled all over the Middle East.
As an adult she had the ambition of becoming an opera singer and continued her studies in music, dancing and ballet. Later on, during her married life, she was seriously engaged in painting and had her own art gallery in Gstaad.
She visited southwestern Turkey for the first time in July 1975, long before mass tourism arrived in the region. She arrived with Bouboulina, a converted Greek fishing boat and hence she was affectionately called Kaptan June by the locals. After selling her beloved boat, she roamed the world looking for a paradise and found it on that very beach. She settled in Dalyan in 1984, living in a solitary Baraka, a hut on the beach.
When there were rumours about touristic development, June realised that the loggerhead sea turtles (Carretta carretta) unique to the locality would be lethally menaced. She decided she had to save the breeding site from exploitation for mass tourism.
Together with other environmentalists, such as David Bellamy, Lily Venezelos, Günther Peter, Nergis Yazgan and Keith Corbett, she launched a campaign against the developers to preserve the habitat.
In the winter of 1986 the local Council decided that for "health reasons" the huts had to be demolished. This was a ruse for in April 1987 there was a stone laying ceremony to mark the building of an 1800-bed hotel. The incident created a major international storm when David Bellamy championed the cause of the conservationists. After an appeal
to Turkey's Prime Minister by Prince Philip, then President of the WWF, a team of German researchers was asked to do an environmental impact assessment on the beach and its hinterland. Consequently, the Dalyan – Köyceğiz area was declared a Special Environmental Protected Area by a Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers on 12.06.1988 and the development project was stopped. Since then, June has dedicated her life to ensure conservation of the site as well as attracting international attention to the fate of the sea turtles. This story is recounted in her debut autobiographical book Kaptan June and the Dalyan Turtles, for sale in our Gift Shop. She relates the struggle and the victory for the preservation of the species in her book, which was first published in 1997.
Over the years, Kaptan June has always remained environmentally conscious. She will still speak out, whenever she feels something vulnerable is at stake in the Köyceğiz-Dalyan Special Environmental Protection Area. She is particularly concerned for the protection of the Nile turtle (Trionyx triunguis) and the Liquidamber tree (Liquidambar orientalis), an endemic species typical for the region.
At the age of 86, June took an exam to obtain Turkish citizenship in order to start a foundation to protect the habitat of the loggerhead turtle. The foundation was officially established in February 2011.
June's beach baraka is back on the beach to serve as a Museum and Gift Shop.
KAPTAN JUNE AWARDED MBE
Her work, which has provided a vital sanctuary for the endangered Loggerhead Turtle, or caretta caretta, has been recognised by Queen Elizabeth II for the British New Year's Honors List. Kaptan June travelled to Buckingham Palace in May 2011 to receive her Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) award "for services to environmental conservation and the protection of endangered turtles in Turkey", according to the official notice.
This announcement also received attention in the Turkish media.
See video: Kraliçe tarafından onurlandırıldı
After her visit to Buckingham Palace, there was a garden party at which the Ambassador to Turkey, H.E. David Reddaway, was the guest of honour. There were more worthies attending the party, though, such as the Governor of Muğla, the Fethiye-based Honorary Consul, the Ortaca Kaymakan, and the mayors of three municipalities . The party therefore got wide media coverage.
The Ambassador was pleased to announce that the British Government plans to make a 10,000 lira donation to the newly founded Kaptan June Sea Turtle Conservation Foundation.
Fatih Şahin, the Vali of Muğla, having seen a model of the new propeller guard and having heard the sad story of so many injured turtles due to propeller blows, pledged he would see to it that there will be legislation regarding propeller guards on the Köyceğiz-Dalyan waterways. No boat is to go unprotected ...
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