Lavender mesmerizes with its visual appeal and also provides assistance to the student.

A group of villagers in the district of Silifke in Mersin, with the support of Mersin Metropolitan Municipality, have established a lavender garden, selling their products through the cooperative they set up, providing scholarships to students and contributing to schools in the region.

The story of cooperativization by establishing a lavender garden in the approximately 2,000-population Çaltıbozkır Village began in 2018 when retired teacher Mehmet Asım Özçalık returned to his village with the motto ‘There is no retirement in teaching’ and founded the Çaltıbozkır Association.

Following the decision made at meetings attended by other members, including some journalists and housewives, Özçalık and his friends who participated in the lavender cultivation course applied to Mersin Metropolitan Municipality for lavender seedlings.

The municipality granted 5,000 lavender seedlings to the people of Çaltıbozkır. Planting 5,000 lavender seedlings resulted in a significant production success. Hatice Gülcan Yüksel, the President of Çaltıbozkır Production and Marketing Cooperative, stated that they produce 11 different types of oil.

After the support of the distillation unit by Mersin Metropolitan Municipality, Yüksel pointed out that sales and marketing opportunities have increased even more, stating:

“We produce 11 different types of oil in our facility. From the lavender oil we obtain, we make soap, exfoliating mitt, cologne, candles, Turkish delight, room spray. We provide scholarships to university students with part of our income. We renovate our old schools. We turned one into a museum, one into a library. We have 6 more schools. We want all villagers to be involved in production. Especially women help us in production and labeling stages. We initially thought of this as alternative agriculture. It is a very clean agriculture. It requires little water, little care. It looks beautiful, very good for tourism. We host many domestic and foreign tourists who want to see the lavender gardens. Especially Russians promote our region.”

Visitor Ayşegül Şengi, who came to visit the lavender garden, said, “We were always curious about lavender gardens. We had no chance to go to Isparta. We were happy to see such a beautiful place in Silifke. We tasted the beautiful scent of this place. We learned about the benefits of lavender and bought some products. It is a very nice thing to have such a place in a small town like Silifke.”

Mücahit Özel, who visited the lavender garden with his wife and child, said, “We felt like we were in Isparta. It creates a nice atmosphere to have such a place in Silifke. As soon as we entered the garden, a beautiful scent filled the air. We came here to visit with my wife and child. We welcome everyone.”