CYPRUS is set to face EU action after the government’s shock decision to allow shooting of the Turtle Dove this weekend provoked major reaction from conservationists across the continent.
The Interior Ministry yesterday reversed legislation that did not allow the spring shooting of the Turtle Dove, Streptopelia turtur, after considerable pressure from the thousands of Cypriot hunters. The government’s decision will allow for the threatened bird species to be shot in certain coastal areas from 6am to 11am on Sunday May 6 and Wednesday May 9.
The Green Party and BirdLife Cyprus have already called on the European Commission to intervene, while Konstantin Kreiser, EU Policy Manager at BirdLife International warned that the implications of this decision could be huge for Cyprus.
“This is a clear infringement of EU legislation as well as the Birds Directive. We expect the European Commission to take action, hopefully even to reverse the decision before Sunday [tomorrow]. As well something that could lead to a financial punishment worth millions of euros, it will also be an EU-wide embarrassment for Cyprus,” he told the Cyprus Mail yesterday.
Kreiser used the example of Malta as something that the Cypriot government should try to avoid.
“Malta is about to be taken to a European Court of Justice over the issue of spring hunting of Turtle Doves. This is definitely not a wise decision as the political implications could be much worse than the financial penalty,” he added.
Maltese Prime Minister Dr Lawrence Gonzi received 115,000 protest letters in January this year over the case.
This turnaround from the government comes at a time when Cyprus was beginning to shed its reputation for rampant bird killing. Unless the Interior Ministry revokes its decision, Sunday will be the first time that spring shooting has been permitted on the island for more than a decade.
BirdLife Cyprus – the representative of BirdLife International in Cyprus – called the decision “indefensible”, “alarming” and “unacceptable”.
“This is plainly a politically-motivated decision taken with one eye on next year’s presidential election. It will be a case of targeting a threatened bird species at the most vulnerable stage of its life cycle. We are not opposed to legal, sustainable hunting – but this is not what we are faced with here,” Executive Manager Martin Hellicar said.
Conservationists have warned that such a decision could even bring about a drop in tourism on the island, as the public in Germany, the Scandinavian countries and Germany, where the majority of Cypriot tourists come from, are renowned for their sensitivity on bird killing issues.
Cyprus Hunters’ Association boss Andros Kyprianou claimed that too much fuss is being made over the issue.
“The permit we have is extremely restricted, it affects only 10 hours on two days and covers only one per cent of the territory of the Cyprus Republic,” he told state radio. “We believe that we are definitely within our legal rights, the Cypriot citizen has asked for spring hunting and based on his rights as a European citizen he has succeeded. In this case, Cyprus satisfies these rules allowing us to break away from the EU Directive.”
BirdLife Cyprus argued that the claim from the Cyprus Hunters’ Association does not hold true.
“The Birds Directive clearly states that a hunting derogation can only be granted if there is “no other satisfactory solution”. To satisfy this condition, shooting in spring would have to be the only way local hunters could bag reasonable numbers of Turtle Doves. In fact, government figures show that between 19,000 and 30,000 Turtle Doves are shot in Cyprus during the existing, autumn, shooting season,” a statement they released yesterday said.
