Salep orchids and salep culture in Eastern Anatolia

Orchidaceae family is one of the largest families of flowering plants. Orchids which have 21.000- 26.000 species in the world, grow naturally in our country. There are 191 taxa in our country. Tubers of orchid orchids are used for food - drink and herbal medicine (drug) purposes. Tubers of orchids such as Orchis, Ophrys, Anacamptis, Himantoglossum, Comperia, Serapias, Platanthera, Dactylorhiza, are used in the production of sahlep and ice cream. In this research, it is aimed to find the answers towards the main objectives of the study through asking 40 questionnaire questions to 82 participants with in Van-Gevaş, Bitlis-Tatvan, Hakkâri-Şemdinli, Siirt-Pervari and Diyarbakır regions during the period between 2015 and 2017. It was found that in the Eastern Anatolia Region (Van, Bitlis, Hakkâri, Muş) and Siirt province, most of the respondents declared that the protection and usage balance must be applied and the other part of the respondents emphasized the economic reasons for ending the uncontrolled collection process Key Words: Sahlep, Sahlep Orchids, Van, Bitlis, Hakkâri, Siirt, Diyarbakır