Eating sunflower seeds banned on an Istanbul coast

ISTANBUL

Eating sunflower seeds have been banned on the coast of Istanbul’s Üsküdar district to prevent seed eaters from littering the shore with shells and leftovers, the district’s mayor has said.

“It was a difficult, but a necessary decision for us. It is now banned to eat sunflower seeds in the Üsküdar shoreline, from Harem to Küçüksu,” Mayor Hilmi Türkmen said on Twitter.

“We do not wish [there will be fines], but income from the fines will be donated to a fund we set up for services for the disabled,” he added.

Sunflower seeds stand as the most consumed dried snack in the country and Turkish people are known for their “addiction” to sunflower seeds, which claim an essential place in daily life.

Meanwhile, Türkmen met with journalists at the Salacak Beach, just opposite the iconic Maiden’s Tower, on July 8.

“This coast should be clean,” he said during the meeting, adding that the most tiring issue about the cleanliness of the coast is the waste of shelled seeds, especially sunflower seeds.

“Some of our residents unfortunately throw the shell of the sunflower seeds they eat on the sidewalks, roads, the sea, between rocks,” he noted.

Turkish people consume sunflower seeds as a snack mostly during chitchats, seeing movies or watching sports games.

Sunflower seed production in Turkey was 125,000 tons with a turnover of 1.2 billion Turkish Liras [$175 million] last year.