[Taxacom] Collecting Samples From Another Country

[Levent Can]

Dear all,

I wanted to inform you all about some incidents happened here in Turkey.
Unfortunately, researchers from the Netherlands and Spain have been arrested
by customs and police officers for collecting plant materials without a
legal permission. The media here in Turkey, followed these events with high
interest and I would say that such events are quite trendy in these days.
Today, newspapers reported that a group of entomologists from Czech
Republic were arrested at the Turkish border. Reported is that they tried to
escape with more than 6000 specimens.

Of course, this series of events wouldn't be a big deal if the folks from
the Netherlands weren't caught with the last remaining 57 bulbs of a highly
threatened endemic Fritillaria species from Erzurum. The villagers now keep
an eye on every foreigner who tries to catch a butterfly or just want to
smell a beautiful rose. It is hard to work on the field even for us as
"local" researchers, without being disturbed by villagers or even officers.

Lev

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Levent Can

Namik Kemal University
Faculty of Science and Literature
Department of Biology
Degirmenalti Campus
59030 Tekirdag - TURKEY
Office: +90282 293 38 66 (226)
Mobile: +90554 282 31 62
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