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)

Dear Animal Lover friends,

We have just been sent a note by Yasemin Baban, the Head of Association of Beykoz volonteers. From here we have been keeping you informed of the events at Beykoz…
So we are going to update you on what has been going on at the Beykoz death fields over the last month..

The street dog association of Yasemin Baban and Berrin Olcay is now involved in different court cases against the municipality. Olcay and Baban have opened another personal court case for public defamation
against the Mayor Ergul and Okzuz.
Last Tuesday 15 of July Olcay and Baban were in front of the court regarding the illegal dismissal of the workers and veterinary doctor of the shelter. The Municipality has been forced to pay the workers
100.000 YTL, approx 50.000 Euros.

The Beykoz shelter, that barely six months ago contained over 1.500 dogs contains today barely 350!!!

Where have the dogs gone Mr. Ergul? The answer is clear, the ones that couldnt be killed and buried in mass graves have been dumped in the forest around Beykoz villages. With 30 C heat, no water and no food dogs are trying to survive by approaching the villages where the farmers poison or kill them with guns. Beykoz has become a wasteland where uneducated maganda drive around shooting dogs at dawn.

Poisoning and killing has now become common place in Beykoz as the Municipality refuses to implement Neuter and Return, the number of puppies and pregnant dogs is unbelievable. The ones that survived will
soon be hunted by the villagers.

The shelter, that used to neuter around 20 dogs a day is now totally out of order. The catching team and the veterinaries are sitting down drinking tea and doing nothing and as there is no volunteer to supervise the situation.

A German TV crew or newspaper came last week to visit the shelter and took an appointment with the municipality. Of course the shelter was prepared for the occasion and Oksuz himself went there, wearing his
cleaner clothes.

Baban’s telephone does not stop ringing with calls from people in Beykoz concerning dogs hit by cars and left with broken legs and hips, poisoned dogs, dogs shot in the head in front of children.. you name it.

They are doing their best to pick those dogs and treat them in clinics all over Istanbul. Last week they asked the municipality to keep two of those dogs under supervision at their shelter for two weeks whilst they recovered from their injuries. The shelter refused to take the dogs.

Bravo Ergul !!

Baban and Olcay built the veterinary clinic at the Beykoz shelter. That is the rehabilitation center for the animals of Beykoz and legally they are obliged to take care of Beykoz dogs but they refuse, and they dont have any place to keep those animals.

The Municipality team does not catch any dog for neutering (too busy drinking tea) and the dogs Baban and Olcay bring to the shelter to be neutered are routinely refused. The shelter has become a breeding factory, with unneutered male and female dogs kept together and become pregnant. The situation is a disaster, a public embarrassment.

In 2007, Baban and Olcay bought 1.200 sq metrs of green tent material that was installed on the kennels to provide shadow for the dogs. A month ago 10 volunteers went to the shelter to install it but they were not allowed with the excuse that the shelter workers would do it. We are now at the end of July and nothing has been done. The dogs are being slowly roasted under the summer sun.

The main veterinary doctor  is now on vacation for 40 days!.. The replacement vet is now at the shelter.. he is totally inexperienced, just last week one of the dogs he operated died of massive internal bleeding due to inadequate suture, we got in time to save another one that was on critical condition.

Polonezkoy, in the outskirts of Istanbul, has the status of National Park and as such has some of the toughtest building restrictions in the country…  improvements, modifications, everything is subject to a special permission.

No new construction can be built… except… oooopss!!!! except Muharrem Erguls new villa.

No rules apply to Mr. Ergul who does not seem to have a problem erecting new walls, cutting down trees, basically, doing whatever he wishes.

Here are the pictures…

Beykoz, Sariyer, Cankaya, Antalya, very different locations, same villains.

So, change the location and you get the same story, a massacre, right in front of your astonished (and in most cases, motionless, faces).

Legal action, it is the only way.

Staying behind the computer screen and sending pleading emails will not work. Is the biggest waste of time only behind trying to stop this wave of condemnation and direct action.

If this is happening to you, do the right thing, report them to the public prosecutor, take them to court, let them know you are watching them, and, if you have just a little bit of the strength, courage and boldness that makes you beat your chest and shout Proud to be a Turk!! join us, because strength and courage seems to be in very short supply nowadays…

Enjoy your movie… it shows the side of Turkey all the tourist advertisement and the sleek investment conferences are trying to hide.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5t5mh_cankaya-kopek-katliamlar_news

This video film was broadcasted on Channel 24 today at 15:00 hours.

A man who worked in “Yuzyil” shelter in Ankara for 4 years is confessing how they collected dogs from the city, brought them to this “Yuzyil” shelter, then every week took them and dumped them in an isolated place where there is nothing but a rock mine, no food, no water, no people, no garbage, no nothing. He says they did what Murat, the manager of the shelter told them to do. Every week or ten days they stuffed a truck with 70-80 dogs and dumped them in that isolated place, puppies included. Many of the dogs have light green colored ear tags showing they have been neutered and released. This man says that he has seen Miss/Mrs Behiye (I think her last name was Eryilmaz) once in 4 years, she is supposed to be the person responsible for managing that shelter. From the things he explains they have calculated that about 24 thousand dogs have been killed this way, 6000 of them puppies.