A half-liter bottle of this olive oil is sold for 1200 TL.
The olives picked from the 1200-year-old antique olive tree growing in Teos archeological park, were pressed and sold in the auction organized by Seferihisar Municipality. The start bid of the half liter bottle was 1 TL, the quickly raising price reached to 1200 TL’s ending the bid by the businessman Bülent Akgerman.
On Monday, 18th of April, the same day Seferihisar Municipality also arranged a seed swap festival. During the festival 72.000 seedlings planted in Can Yücel Seed Center distributed freely to the public.
Both the events took place at Seferihisar Square with the honourable presence of District Governor Resul Çelik, Garrison Commander Levent Aksoy, Mayor Tunç Soyer, District State Attorney-General Arif Gedikoğlu, NGO’s, associations and the cheerful public.
A LITER OF THE UNIQUE TASTE COSTS 2400 TL’s.
There was a great amount of bidders in the auction. The moderator of the auction was Nedim Atilla, who is a journalist,writer and gourmet. The olive oil gathered from the oldest trees are packaged and grouped into 6-12 bottles according to their acidity. A total of 129 liters of olive oil was sold for 17.700 TL’s (app. 6200 USD)
WE SHALL NOT SACRIFICE THE OLIVE TREES FOR MONEY
Seferihisar Mayor also joined the auction and emphasized the importance of the olive trees: "Olive trees are said to be immortal. They can produce olives for hundreds of years, it’s fruit is delicious, healthy, the tree itself is the symbol of peace. After the legislation of Amalgamation Law of the Towns, the Beyler village olive oil factory was taken over by the Municipality. The factory was non-operational for a while, so we cleaned and replenished it. Then picked the fruits of the oldest trees we could find, so that the people would realize the life in this miraculous trees. Imagine that the humans are born, grow and die, but these trees keep on growing olives for centuries. It isn’t the construction, highways or bridges enriching the cities, it is these lively trees. As the local governments, preserving these marvelous plant is our top priority. We shall challenge ourselves not to give up hope for nature. As Nazım Hikmet, the famous poet cited 70 years ago: Shall you take life so serious, that you should, for instance, at the age of seventy, plant an olive tree. And not for leaving it to your grandchildren, for that you don’t believe in death even when you are scared of it, just because you prefer life instead."