Children inspire nationwide environmental movement in Türkiye

MERSİN

A grassroots environmental campaign launched by an 11-year-old boy in southern Türkiye has sparked a wave of youth-led clean-up efforts across the country, capturing the attention of millions on social media.

Aras Kayretli, who lives in the city of Mersin, began collecting litter during early morning walks with his mother and younger brother.

Alarmed by the increasing number of wildfires and the environmental destruction they left behind, the family decided to turn their morning walks into a public awareness campaign.

Kayretli opened a social media account with the pledge: “I will collect as much trash as I have followers.”

To their surprise, the campaign gained viral traction.

Within three days, Kayretli’s videos were viewed more than 40 million times and his follower count neared 500,000.

“I started with zero followers and collected 20 pieces of trash,” Kayretli said. “We thought maybe I’d get 50 or 60 followers, but we were shocked. If we had known this would grow so quickly, we would’ve started earlier.”

Kayretli now plans to collect 50 full bags of trash to match his follower milestone.

"I don’t understand why people throw their garbage on the ground. Just use the bin,” he said. “Some people even asked to join me in picking up litter. That’s amazing. I hope more people do the same.”

His mother, Başak Gizdaş, emphasized that their initiative is not a competition.

“We’d actually be happy if others did even more than us,” said Gizdaş. “We are proud because my children are growing up caring about the environment.”

Inspired by Kayretli, other children around Türkiye have launched similar clean-up efforts.

In the Black Sea province of Gümüşhane, brothers Mete and Görkem Koç picked up litter left behind by picnickers.

Their video also gained traction on social media and prompted a personal thank-you message from Environment Minister Murat Kurum, who sent gifts and officially recognized the boys as “environmental inspectors.”

Meanwhile, in the southern city of Antalya’s Aksu district, children with autism from a local school took action to prevent forest fires by cleaning up plastic waste, glass bottles and agricultural debris from nearby wooded areas.

“We cleaned up the forest so it doesn’t catch fire,” said student Neslihan Özdemir. “It was really dirty. We picked up bags and trash. Let’s keep our forests clean and stop throwing garbage on the ground.”

What began as a simple family routine has now grown into a nationwide call to action, with children leading the way in promoting environmental responsibility.