The biosafety policy on genetically modified organisms in Turkey

Abstract

Assessment of biodiversity and its sustainability Turkey has 75% of the total number of plant species found in Europe. It is this exceptional amount of biodiversity that places a huge responsibility on Turkey, to ensure that these species are adequately protected in order to prevent them from being endangered or becoming extinct. Of particular importance are species related to the crops on which much of world agriculture depends. Many of the formal descriptions of Turkey highlight several distinct biogeographic regions, each with its own endemic species and natural ecosystems, i.e. the Caucasian Mountain forests with its temperate deciduous forests, alpine meadows, the Central and Eastern Anatolian steppe grasslands and the Mediterranean region, which includes the world’s largest remaining forests of cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) and Lebanon cedar (Cedrus libani). Turkey is one of the leading countries for known plant endemism; about 33% of the plant species in the flora are endemic to Turkey. The richest family for endemism in Turkey is the Compositae having a total of 431 species, 40% of which are endemic. Of the 400 species ofLeguminosae, 41% are endemic, and of the 306Labiatae species, 57% are endemic. Also, there are ten genera that are entirely endemic to Turkey. Turkey is at the crossroads of two important Vavilovian gene centers – The Mediterranean and the Near East – each important for the origin of field crops as well as horticultural plants. There are five “microgene centers” in Turkey. The cultivated plants originating in Turkey include species in the genera Linum, Allium, Hordeum, Secale, Triticum, Avena, Cicer, Lens, Pisum, Vitis, Amygladus, Prunus, Beta, etc. Cherries, apricots,