577 beaches, 29 marinas, 18 tourism boats and 8 individual yachts were entitled to receive the Blue Flag.

The International Blue Flag Jury has announced the 2025 Blue Flag awards. This year, in Turkey, 577 beaches, 29 marinas, 18 tourism boats and 8 individual yachts will fly the Blue Flag.

In our country, the Blue Flag Program was initiated with the European Union's declaration of 1987 as the year of the environment, and its starting point is to protect public health and continue this with environmental education and awareness activities. It started to be implemented in our country in 1993.

Blue Flag beaches include 33 criteria, marinas 38 criteria, tourism boats 51 criteria and individual yachts 4 criteria and 16 rules of conduct. Some of the mandatory criteria for beaches are swimming water analysis every 15 days during the season, suitability of wastewater treatment plants, protection of sensitive natural areas, provision of lifeguards and first aid equipment, emergency plan, disability facilities, waste separation, control of pets, environmental education and information.  Corporate social responsibility and public participation and education are also required for marinas and tourism boats.

In our country, the Blue Flag Program, which is carried out in coordination with the Turkish Environmental Education Foundation (TÜRÇEV), is implemented in more than 50 countries around the world in coordination with the International Environmental Education Foundation-FEE at the international level.

Upon this success achieved by our country, President of the Turkish Environmental Education Foundation and Former Minister of Tourism Assoc. Dr. Abdulkadir Ateş said:

“While the effects of human-induced climate change worldwide, the increase in plastic and other pollution in the seas, and the decrease in biodiversity at sea and on land negatively affect sustainable living, tourism is one of the leading economic sectors affected. In contrast, the protection of the "natural environment" is always the basic element of being a center of attraction. The Blue Flag eco-label, which contains criteria for the protection of the environment and public health and is the most known and trusted by the public in the world, continues to play an important role in this sense. We believe that the International Blue Flag awards announced today will contribute to people's tourism preferences and support the work of local administrations and operators in the fields of tourism and sustainability.  The fact that swimming water is microbiologically controlled on Blue Flag beaches where environmental, health, safety and hygiene conditions are kept at the highest level, the cleanliness of the beach and its equipment, the presence of many criteria regarding life safety and environmental management, and the fact that all these criteria are kept under control are important assurance areas for the international tourism community. The success of our country in terms of the number of Blue Flags provides an important advantage in this sense.

It is difficult to get the Blue Flag, but very easy to lose it. For this, it is necessary to work continuously and put education for the environment-nature and sustainable living first. For this reason, I congratulate those who receive the BEST ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION and AWARENESS ACTIVITIES AWARD, who, in addition to the beaches, marinas, yachts and tourism boats that receive the Blue Flag Award, attach importance to environmental education and awareness, see environmental education as an important issue on their agenda, and exhibit the best examples in this context, for their efforts.

As the Turkish Environmental Education Foundation, which has been working for 32 years with the principle of no human health and sustainable tourism without environmental health, we wish you a healthy and successful season with our Blue Flags waving on our coasts.''