What you see here is a rescue operation.

We rescued those animals from Fathma Balkanli, an animal hoarder running a “shelter”, the Besiktas Cevre ve Sokak Hayvanlari Dernegi. This was the shelter.
Yesterday there was an annoucement on the press.. she claims she needs to raise 1500 liras so that her “shelter”  is not closed down..

You can all give her a call and tell her youve seen this images.. she certainly knows about them…
Name: Fathma Balkanli
Address: Ciragan Caddesi animal torture chamber, right in front of the
Ciragan Hotel
Tel torture room (business): 0212- 2277265
Mobile: 05423173571
Besiktas Belediyesi: 0212 – 444 44 55

Beykoz has once again turned into an animal hell on 8 October. Cats, dogs, all of them were poisoned to death on that day.

What you will read below is an open letter from Ms. Yasemin Baban, the guardian angel of Beykoz’s stray animals, to Ihsan Oksuz, the head of the team that seized the management of the Beykoz shelter.

“It is pouring rain today. My heart and mind are on the puppies you dumped in the forests, the ones you murdered, the ones you threw up in the forests right after neutering them, the ones which are emaciated and still have their surgical bandages on their bodies.

As you continue to grow fat inside your nice and warm home, we are feeding the dogs you left out to starve, and try to heal the ones you left sick. We spend all our resources on keeping these dogs alive, instead of trying to get you convicted in court.  

We decided that it is onto God now to punish you. Torturing the creatures God created is not like extortion and illegal construction work, it has a much heavier punishment. The ones you love may die hungry, thirsty and sick. I want you to know that I pray to my God everyday for him to punish you as you deserve and that justice be done.

Of course, you could have wanted to overtake the administration of the shelter which was seemingly registered to the municipality. You could have, however, done this in a civilized manner like was the case at Sariyer a few years ago. At the time, they had given a notice to the volunteers to evacuate the shelter, no dogs were harmed. But someone like you who says “you took over the shelter with a coup” cannot undertake anything in a civilized manner.

In this way, you have seized all our assets. Assets which under the law should have been provided by the municipality yet were provided by our association. A court had already decided that all these belonged to us.

In fact, other directors could have done what you did. However, they didn’t, despite all the pressure from the mayor. Because they knew what kind of sacrifices we were personally making.

The fact that you paid a visit to the home of a resident in Riva who made a statement to the press upon the poisioning of his dog and threatened him attests to your ugly style.

Again, emanating from your ugly style, you think that all donations are administered in the “Deniz Feneri” donations scandal style. You mistook us, you thought we were the same as you and you insulted us.

For the last 4 years, the neutering and care of Beykoz’s stray animals, including rabis vaccinations, have been all paid for by our association. At a time when we were neutering Beykoz dogs at no cost to the municipality, and at a time when all Beykoz residents were complaining to the municipality’s white desk about stray dogs, the municipality never got to the task of catching dogs. (I have copies of the mails I sent to the mayor on this issue in my sent mailbox, I can make them public at any time).  

You were complaining to me that the Beykoz municipality had no financial resources at all. Have things changed when you found out that you could make money out of the neutering business? How come is that now your dog catching teams are trying to catch dogs, including elderly and already neutered dogs? Did you expect that neutering would make you money? How has it been possible for you to have the financial resources now to pay for all these after years of complaining?

I know that you will not be able to answer these question, just like you haven’t been able to answer our previous questions. To this day, both you and the mayor have avoided our calls to clarify all these questions before the press. Unfortunately, you have kept issuing lies and insults instead of facing us like bold men.

Don’t worry, everybody will eventually pay back…

I wish you a happy eid.

Yasemin Baban

P.S. I am also forwarding this letter to the web site Beykozkillers so that everybody can read it.

Before

AFTER

THEY ARE ALL DEAD NOW….

Beykoz Killing Team

We started the day with an early telephone call.

One of our contacts in the press called us to announce the leak of unprecedented documents linking directly Muharrem Ergul, the Mayor of Beykoz, to the appalling dog massacre going on during this year in that Istanbul region.

Apparently, someone involved in the killings couldn’t live with his conscience and decided to release the documents.

This is the ultimate proof that Muharrem Ergul has not been telling the truth to the press, to the public, and, most importantly, to the courts, since the very beginning of this case.

What you see here are execution orders. ILTILAF EKIBI means literally: TO BE KILLED.

We have the names of the executioners, Husseyir Atasever, Yasar Duman and Husamettin Palabiyir. We even have the license plate of the car: 34 GT 608

The orders were given by the people responsible at the municipality to the executioners. The executions were carried away swiftly, sometimes by poisoning, others, like in the pictures you see below, by several shots in the head and the body.

In this case we were contacted by the employee of a villa who wanted to complain about a Municipality car that usually dumps dogs in the forest. This unfortunate dog was shot 5 times. 3 in the head, two in the body. His body was left to rot and be eaten by foxes and jackals.

All the documents are now in the hands oft he authorities and will be used in a court of law.

Beykozkillers

P.S. We ran the license plate 34 GT 608 on the traffic gov.tr web site. From this database, you can find out everything about a particular car, including if it is stolen or etc. Accordingly, 34 GT 608 is

brand: DE SOTO
year: 2002
purchased on: 23 january 2002
color: blue
it is registered in Beykoz.

There are outstanding taxes on this car as well. On 9 April 2008, the Beykoz Tax Office issued a confiscation order for this car as far as we understand from the “further remarks” section of the database. So it is a criminal vehicle already! If this car is caught somewhere, it will be confiscated by the taxation authorities!

Very recently, Muharrem Ergul,  announced:

“The Beykoz Shelter is a wonderful place, a warm and cozy home for our animals”

Here is what Ergul considers a warm and cozy place for the animals… a place where sick untreated dogs struggle for air under the boiling August sun.. a place where dogs are eaten alive by ticks… a place where dogs are brought in for sterilization and end up dead in some hidden forest… a place where the vet spends more time drinking tea that healing and treating animals.. a place where you can smell the stench of rotten corpses

Disgusting. Infuriating.

Today concerned animal lovers across the world received the most puzzling letter. It was a seemingly personal message written by the Minister of Tourism of the Republic of Turkey, Ertugrul Gunay. Here is the text

“Dear xxxx,
I am very much saddened by your email, and felt obligated to reply you in person.
I cannot justify the cruelty against animals or against any form of life. Nor I could ask for forgiveness.
Nothing could be more sacred than life itself.
I am deeply sorrowed.
We, proud humans, do always talk about harmonizing with the nature, build environmental management systems and certify, pretend to be a part of the ecology. But still, we cannot slow down the ‘most advanced living’ on earth, us, from savaging on life. Life in all forms.
Dog-fights, bull-fights, animal testings, factory farming… The list never ends. Just within the last decade, millions of fowl and cattle were terminated by human hands.
Yet, all this is not enough for inhumanity. Human lives, even in the middle of Europe, are being taken methodically, in front of our eyes. Civilians, are killed remotely, with the ‘state-of-the-art’ machinery, before they even know they were dying.
I remember a news broadcast, in which the overjoyed reporter was telling about the newly developed missile that could penetrate into deep underground shelters. Elaborate methods of taking lives even in refuge!
This hurts. This must hurt.
It does not matter, whether we are a part of the ‘civilized world’ and ‘authorized to criticize’ or among the ‘contemptible people’ of developing countries, we must stand against the organized reproduction of death. Defend life against inhumanity, without making selections, without taking preferences or making excuses… Unconditionally.
We have been sharing our house with them for over 20 years. We had named them Yodi, Miscia and Marcvs. But all these names diminish in time; they become our ‘son’, ‘daughter’ or even ‘sister’ instead. I know the affectionate but helpless look in their lucid eyes. The happiness they add to our lives. And how something breaks in you, when they fly away.
So I am, once again, wounded by the pictures, which have drawn you to sending an email.
Albeit displayed as concentration camps on the web, these dog-shelters in question have been first established by the animal-lovers’ initiative, with the help of local municipalities. My own son, was among the many who were carrying food to these shelters. But unfortunately, the number of four-legged guests in the shelters, has been increasing geometrically, making it almost impossible to give them proper space and care in the cities.
We, animal-lovers are very responsible for this increase, too. Sterilization is not a very common practice in our country. Resulting number of puppies -and kittens, are more than we can ever look after.
As a minister, I am not directly connected with these severe, hurting happenings, but as a person, as someone who has felt the heartbeats of these babies on his fingertips, I take my share from the blame.
I will try my best to raise funds for these animal shelters, and warn those responsible to avoid such sad events.
I would like to thank you for sharing your doubts with us. Now, we need your support, to create a better environment for our friends. Your corroboration will definitely encourage the volunteers working in these shelters.
Respectfully yours,
Ertugrul Günay

It is extremely sad to read this letter signed by a government minister.

Here is our message to Mr. Gunay:

Leave the fund raising for the next elections, Mr. Gunay, instead of finding excuses for the pathetic and shameful estate of the nations so-called-shelters, make sure your government correctly implements a campaign of Neuter and Return as obliged by the law.

We wonder how your son will feel when he sees the following pictures…

http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/9543228.asp?gid=233&sz=42807

” They died in pain, vomiting blood as their organs were broken down to pieces, as the city was sleeping in peace”.

Istanbul is preparing to be the cultural capital of Europe in 2010.

These pictures can be taken all over Beykoz.

Today.

At midday.

A time when normally dogs hide from the heat. You can imagine how it is in the evening, where dogs are out desperately trying to find some food and water.

This is a list of dogs reported killed to the authorities during the months of June-July.
Please bear in mind that this are only the cases made public and in which The Beykoz volonteers have taken an active role in reporting to the gendarmerie.
The real numbers are MUCH higher.

06.05.2008 ALİ BAHADIR / BEYKOZ 10 dogs, 2 cats poisoned
15.05.2008 POLONEZKÖY / BEYKOZ about 10-15 dogs hunted and killed with guns by forestguards
25.06.2008 SOGUK SU / BEYKOZ about 4-5 dogs poisoned
09.07.2008 RİVA / BEYKOZ about 30 dogs poisoned and murdered with guns
12.07.2008 AKBABA / BEYKOZ about 10 dogs poisoned
16.07.2008 PAŞABAHÇE / BEYKOZ 1 dog poisoned
17.07.2008 ANADOLU KAVAĞI / BEYKOZ 1 dog poisoned (dog of Beykoz shelter)
18.072008 BOZHANE / BEYKOZ 3 dogs poisoned and murdered (dogs of Beykoz shelter)