Fritillaria imperialis (Semdinli Tulip), which is a bulbous plant whose natural habitat is the hilly sides in south-east of Turkey, is highly demanded for gardening in Europe. As many other bulb plants, Semdinli Tulip is also threatened by illegal and over collection from the nature for exportation. The intends to promote cultivation of Semdinli Tulip in its natural habitat in Semdinli and Yüksekova (Hakkari), as an alternative to its collection from the nature. The project while protecting the natural population of the plant, will also contribute to the development of the local area, through establishment of a sustainable protection ? use balance.

This Project plans to carry out;
trainings (both theoretical and hands-on) of local producers and local authorities about plantation, caring, harvesting and marketing of Semdinli Tulip to achieve sustainable production,
capacity building of law-enforcing institutions on the existing national and international regulations and enforcement preventing collection of Tulips from the nature,
establishment of local organisation models such as co-operatives or associations to facilitate the sustainability of the project follow-up,
establishment of a fair marketing system and pricing of Semdinli Tulip,
dissemination of the cultivation at other villages, and;
nationwide dissemination of project information and experience as a best practice for other bulb plants cultivation projects.

The project, through their partners, the Association of Botanical flowerbulbs, will also identify and establish the fair market structure for Frittillaria imperialis, identify potential markets and price levels for the amount of tulip bulbs produced to be sold.

The plants that spend most of the year beneath the soil as bulbs, tubers or rhizomes, the so-called geophytes, have considerable importance with their striking appearance and beautiful flowers as well as their many other uses. For many years, these plants, that have elegant flowers and blossom in early spring and autumn, have been uprooted from their habitats and planted to residential houses or parks. These plants also have a symbolic importance, as they blossom either with snow or immediately after the snows melt, they welcome spring. Moreover, due to their sub-terrestrial organs such as bulbs, tubers and rhizomes, geophytes can be easily transferred from their original habitats to foreign countries, thus are of economical importance.

Semdinli area has a wide variety of plants including geophytes. The geophytes in the area have a variety of uses, e.g. spices, vegetables and also in the process of ice cream making (Orchis spp. [Salep Tubers]). Fritillaria imperialis or the Semdinli Tulip, is probably the most beautiful one of all geophytes, ith the most well-known and striking flower.

Since 1974, uprooting, collection and exportation of the naturally existing Fritillaria imperialis, is forbidden. The aim is, through this ban, both to conserve the plant population in nature and to encourage production. Though foreseen, neither the necessary trainings nor the preventive-measures related to uprooting have been carried out. Therefore, occasional illegal uprooting activities could not be prevented and thus, attempts aiming at the protection and production of the plants were not successful.

The economy of the region is mainly dependant on agriculture and animal husbandry. The events of the last two decades troubling the area in general, has resulted in the decrease of people practising animal husbandry, thus the local communities became poorer. There is an existing and increasing demand for these bulbs, especially from the Netherlands. Thus, the villagers chose, uprooting and selling of these bulbs as an illegal but alternative income source. In the 2000, in Yurekli Village ? Yuksekova 70, 000 and in 2001, in Kayalar Village ? Semdinli roughly 200, 000 illegally uprooted bulbs were identified by the local administration. To protect the bulbs from decay, the villagers who uprooted them were made to plant the bulbs to a specified area, under the inspection of the Regional Agriculture Directorate and the University representatives. Although some basic training has been given to those villagers, the local villagers know very little about how to grow these plants. Continuous inspection is carried out for the conservation of the bulbs in the last two years.