Loggerhead Sea Turtle
Caretta caretta

The loggerhead sea turtle is an endangered species of oceanic turtles found in the Mediterranean sea. The Armenian seaport of Ayas (Turkish Yumurtalik) in the Armenian Gulf is a nesting ground for the turtle. Armenians have had a coastal zone in Cilicia since antiquity, which was decimated and Turkified during the Armenian Genocide and Hamidian massacres. The loggerhead turtle is an important endemic sea animal of Armenian Cilicia.