You Will Never Walk Alone
This is our solemn pledge to the British residents of Altinkum, Didim in Turkey who are putting up a heroic fight against the criminal actions of the local authorities of the town as you read this. They are putting up a heroic fight to stop the authorities from terminating the lives of hundreds of stray animals that live in Altinkum like this one.
You already know the dream team of local authorities that is in charge of Didim from this blog. Spot on to one of them – Ali Katirci, the governor of Didim. Katirci sentenced the stray animals of Didim to death, all on his own initiative. Death by starvation and dehydration. He decided that the strays of Didim do not deserve to live, and ordered them to be dumped in remote places where they will die a slow and horrible death. More hungry and more thirsty by the minute until they eventually die…
Here is what we know so far: 20 dogs have disappeared from the two main beaches of Altinkum, 14 dogs from another area, 9 from another, and two lots of about 6 from yet other areas. Unless they died already, they must be desperately searching right now for a sip of water under Didim’s heat.
Why Katirci, why? As a matter of fact, Katirci is violating every single animal protection act that there exists in Turkey from A to Z. Furthermore, he is also a violating a verbal order from a ministry of interior affairs official telling him to stop his brutal practices toward stray animals in Didim.
And the only ones resisting all this are a handful of British citizens who have made it home in Altinkum, Didim. They love Altinkum, they love Turkey. And they love Turkey’s strays. In fact, they set up a local shelter to take care of them.
Where they are helping abandoned dogs
Sick dogs
Puppies
and any dog that needs help…
And they are here to stay… They are here to stay and reverse the misfortune of Altinkum’s animals. But they cannot do it without your support. They cannot walk this alone. From here, we want to send them our promise that they will not have to:
Walk on through the wind
Walk on through the rain
Though your dreams be tossed and blown
Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart
And you will never walk alone
You will never walk alone..
Will you join them in their walk to stop Katirci? If so, please write to the Tourism Office of the Turkish Embassy in London, and tell them you simply refuse to travel to Turkey unless and until the lawlessness in Didim comes to an end.
Address: 4th floor, 29-30 St.James Street, SW1A 1HB
Telephone: 020 7839 7778, 020 7839 7802
Mail: info@gototurkey.co.uk
To the author of this blog, I cannot tell you enough how grateful I and my friends and family are to you for doing this for the dogs in Altinkum, Your update has had me in floods of tears, Especially as i know some of the dogs in the pics above and dread what has become of them. I have friends in Altinkum right now who are desperately checking if some of ” our ” known dogs are safe. I can only pray at this time that they are. If they are not, then I have this to say to Ali Katirci, the governor of Didim ” Mr Katirci, Your decision to rid Altinkum of its dog population by dumping them in the mountains to die of thirst and starvation has broken my heart and also caused me to lose any love that i once held for your country, I may never again return to Turkey because of this, But beleive me I will do whatever I can from my home here in UK to stop you and others like you causing any more pain and suffering to innocent creatures who have done no harm , You treat these dogs in no different way than Hitler treated the Jews – Shame on you ! “
A.SIMS
August 3, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Dogs are not just ” dogs ” They are living , breathing beings, Made of flesh and blood just as we humans are, They suffer as we do !
What an attrocity to take them from the only place they call ” home ” albeit a street , and dump them as if they were no more that rubbish to be cast aside, This maybe a case of ” out of sight , out of mind ” for Katirci, But beleive me it is not the case with us. Mr Katirci , I ask that you get your henchmen to bring the dogs back, and leave them to live their lives as peacefully as possible, then and only then will you gain any respect from people who now see you as nothing more than a dogkiller ! Until this is done I also will spread the news on this and other attrocities in Turkey.
I will also boycott Turkey !
DAVID
August 3, 2008 at 1:31 pm
This situation is really awful. I just can’t understand why this was done. If Turkey thinks that this is gonna make tourism work, then it’s completely wrong!
A land tells a lot by the way it treats the living beings. The way Turkey or some turkish people would be more true, shows little interest.
I will surely boycott as well and talk about it (it’s already done actually).
Thank you for all you try to do. I’ll be happy to help you in any way!
j.coudriou
August 3, 2008 at 5:51 pm
I will post it on my blog and make sure that the foundation Animals without Limits will leave their voice clearly.
Thank you for writing about this and I will make sure your voice will continue.
Mia Mattsson Mercer
August 3, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Mr Katirci…. you are a disgrace to humanity, your country, your people and the dogs. How dare you violate the Animal Protection Act? Who do you think you are to make this decision and treat these loving dogs in such a disgusting and inhumane manner??? You are the lowest form of a human, this news will reach the world and you will be shamed!! I will boycott your country and never set foot there, and neither will anyone I know!! You disgust me!!
What you give out in hatred and disrespect towards these dogs will come back at you!!!!!!!!!! Maybe you will be left in the mountains to starve and die of dehydration!!!!
R. Maynard
August 4, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Lets be honest here…………
Turkish goverment do not care about the dogs, it has taken ‘outsiders’ to step into the country and try and care for the dogs.
No words to the turkish goverment will make one ounce of difference….
Every country is responsible for caring for the animals that, we, humans have domesticated over the years……these dogs are no longer wild, can no longer fend for themselves, they are our ultimate responsiblty.
One thing i DO know will make the goverment sit up and listen, is money.
Do the turkish goverment realise what harm they are doing to toursist industry???
You maynot feel the squeeze this year, but next year you will see a huge dip in numbers….YOUR country will suffer because of your actions.
Gillian Robinson
August 5, 2008 at 8:39 am
This situation is deplorable and the only ones who are suffering is the dogs, well Didim now it,s your turn, because the people of this world have organised peaceull rallies to shout for the dogs in Turkey, there are petitions to boycott Turkey, and there are people all around the world that know exactly what has been happening to the dogs in Turkey, it has got to stop, it is barbaric cruelty at its worse what is going on over there, and as a regular visitor to Altinkum with my family and friends WEwill not be coming back to Turkey, along with thousands of other people until all the massacres stop all over Turkey, these dogs did no harm to anyone, and it is the minority ,not the majority that have complained, they knew before they moved out there that there were dogs there, so why complained, The tourists don,t want this, and neither do decent citizens of Didim, I always thought that Turkey was a loving country now I have changed my mind, as soon as the tourists go the dogs are massacred in their thousands, well now the whole world knows what is going on, and let me tell you they are not pleased about it,we want this stopped now once and for all, or you are going to empty your streets, you will empty your streets of tourists ,stop now before it is to late, talk to shelter staff help them to get the neuter and release programe on track again, educate the children on animal welfare, and show the world,s people that you are not an authority of animal haters as it stands at the moment it looks as if you are I my self and hundreds more have emailed you on a number of occasions with no reply ,yes you can delete the emails ,but you cannot stop this ,not one mayor in Turkey had the decency to answer one email ,because you know that you are in the wrong, and you have gone against your Govermemnt,s law, because it is against the law to kill these dogs, and you know it ,so who is the guilty party, it is certainly not the dogs ,it is you for what you have done , and another comment I would like to make is this are you telling the residents how these dogs are being killed ,NO YOU ARE NOT well WE WILL
Bev Hill
September 3, 2008 at 4:28 pm