With the 'Cilicia Road Project', which Mersin Metropolitan Municipality Directorate of Youth and Sports Services is working on, sports and tourism will be blended with the tracks that will be formed in the rotation of the historical beauties of Mersin, and sports tourism will be revived in Mersin. There will be tracks such as trekking, mountain biking and tent camping areas on the routes to be created.
Within the scope of the project carried out with the cooperation of the Metropolitan Municipality, Mersin University, Zirve Mountaineering and Nature Sports Club and the contributions of the Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism and the Silifke Museum Directorate, an information meeting was held at the Macit Özcan Sports Facilities. The purpose and routes of the project were discussed at the meeting. Head of Youth and Sports Services Department Ahmet Tarakçı, Mersin University Faculty of Arts and Sciences Head of Archeology Department Prof. Dr. Murat Durukan, Summit Mountaineering and Outdoor Sports Club President Ali Rıza Demir, Zirve Mountaineering and Nature Sports Club Route Producer Süleyman Aslan, Zirve Mountaineering and Outdoor Sports Club Route Marker Ali Güneş attended.
Route determination studies continue
Within the scope of the project, which started 3 months ago, field trips are made every weekend for route determination. The first phase of the Cilicia Road, which was planned to be discovered between Kaledran and Gülek, was carried out between Silifke and Erdemli. In the first stage, studies are carried out to determine the rotations planned as Silifke-Single Woman, Single Woman-Uzuncaburç, Uzuncaburç-Cambazlı, Cambazlı-Mezgit Castle, Haddock Castle-Paradise Hell, Paradise Hell-Adam Rocks, Adam Kayalar-Pasha Tomb-Kanlı Divane.
"We aim to contribute to national and international sports tourism on behalf of our city"
Explaining the purpose of the project that they started working months ago in the meeting held, Ahmet Tarakçı, Head of the Youth and Sports Services Department said, “In this project, which we call the Cilicia Road, we aim to contribute to both national and international sports tourism on behalf of our city by bringing the historical and cultural richness of Mersin to the forefront with sports. In the future, we are planning trekking trails, tent camps, accommodation areas, as well as tracks for a mountain bike, focusing on the historical texture. We are thinking of ultra marathon races after 3-4 years. Because this historical texture exists in very few cities of the world. We want to bring this to life by highlighting it. "We want to create tracks that can be used by our people and can be used internationally."
"Our aim is to develop sports tourism by highlighting the historical texture of our city"
Tarakçı, who also made evaluations during the route determination phase, said, “Our aim is to develop sports tourism by highlighting the enormous wealth that has come from the Ancient Age. We are at the route determination stages of this route, which we named as Kilikya. "We want to announce the road to Cilicia and bring our beautiful historical richness to the forefront by waiting for more participants from the national and international arena here."
Murat Durukan, "We aim to create an attraction center by enriching the track with cycling, running or walking"
Head of the Department of Archeology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences of Mersin University, one of the stakeholders of the project. Dr. Stating that they want to blend the archaeological values of Mersin with sports with the project, Murat Durukan said, “This study is one of the important works that will bring together the cultural richness of Mersin region and sports activities. It can also be considered as a study aimed at promoting the archaeological values of Mersin, especially the ruins. We thought that maybe we could complete the missing part of this city with tourism by including sports. We want to draw some routes by including archeology, culture, tourism and sports in this business. "We aim to create an attractive attraction center both nationally and internationally by enriching the track with cycling, running or walking."
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