Guide
Gümeli is a stand of old yew trees in the forests of Alaplı district, in Zonguldak province. An area of 2,550 decares was declared the Gümeli Natural Monument on 11 March 2008 for what grows in it: a natural, ancient yew woodland (Taxus baccata L.) that includes trees recorded at 1,987 and 1,164 years old, alongside many others averaging between three and five centuries.
Surveys of the surrounding forest compartments found that they too qualify as natural old-growth forest and hold a large number of trees of monumental size. The claim the Ministry makes for the site is a strong one and is given here as the institution's own: a yew standing in the area beside the protected monument was scientifically assessed at 4,114 years old as of 2019, which would make it the oldest tree in Türkiye, the oldest yew in the world, and one of the five oldest known trees anywhere. The area is in the Gümeli forests of Alaplı.
