KEBABBLE Feathered fight clubs spur outrage
By Fazile Zahir
FETHIYE, Turkey - The high ceiling allowed only dim light to filter down into
the ring where the two competitors stood glistening and well-muscled. Their
trainers shifted nervously from foot to foot, adjusting towels, checking water
bottles and sowing kits for emergency stitching.
One man ran the book and as the spectators eyed up the fighters, a tall gent
removed his cigarette and said confidently. "Fifty teas on the grey." (Tea is
the gambling slang at these fights for the Turkish lira). From the other side
of the small arena someone came back. "In for 40 on the black.". The fighting
began, 15-minute rounds in a vicious struggle to the death. Old hands knew
that they might be there for two hours watching the gladiators go at it with
tooth and nail.
Suddenly the warehouse doors swung open, hot sunlight streamed in as fast as
the uniformed police. As the officers moved around the room clapping handcuffs
on the spectators, the combatants continued to scream and tear at each other.
Finally, the bravest of the officers stepped in to the ring, bent down and
hoisted the enraged roosters up by their legs.
This was the scene on July 20 in Istanbul when 60 people were arrested for
organizing, staging and taking bets on a cockfight. According to newspaper and
television reports, the 25 roosters were covered in blood after fighting in a
specially constructed arena area. The media named Sakir O as the mastermind
behind the skirmishes and revealed he had a history in the cockfighting
business.
The detainees defended their actions, saying, "Cockfighting is a hobby." But
cock fighting has been banned in Turkey since 2004 when Article 11 of Law 5199
made it illegal for animals to be trained to do anything not in "their natural
capacity, beyond their strength or that might injure or cause them pain or
teach them bad habits" and that "forcing animals to fight other live animals is
prohibited". Despite the laws, the illegal sport continues.
Since the beginning of this year, there have been multiple incidents and
arrests. A police sting in January caught 28 people in the Banaz area of Usak
having a "Canary and Rooster Beauty Show" in a dilapidated old flour factory.
Although some of the men tried to escape the police, others stuck to their
story, "We are the Banaz Animal Protection League and this is an organized
animal beauty show. We are displaying stud canaries and roosters here, the best
ones get a first prize award and the owners are able to sell them to
prospective clients. The gendarme are checking for cockfighting but we are
merely gathered here to try a get better chicks from good stud roosters."
The gendarmes were quick to point out that there were no canaries present and
no other animals except roosters. An old hand, Nazim Aktan, was unruffled
despite his arrest. He had come to the meeting to sell his rooster, Memoli, who
he values at around 1,000 lira (US$829), "I've been arrested six times and six
times no case has been proven, it won't be this time either." The ruse of
opening an animal appreciation club is well known to the Turkish police and
they offer these alleged animal lovers little leniency.
On March 1, in Zonguldak on the Black Sea coast the police raided a house that
had been rented solely for the purpose of arranging cockfights. Entering the
packed bungalow at 11pm they found wooden bleachers had been built around a
ring and 48 spectators were occupying them. There were also 30 roosters most of
whom were tired and bloody. As the gamblers were led away they laughed at
photographers saying, "Keep on snapping ... like we committed a murder or
something!"
A month later in Sakarya a raid on the premises of another recently established
"Caged Birds and Animals Breeders Organization" led to the arrest of 40 people
for cockfighting. One man, F K, was charged with "providing the premises for
gambling and mistreating animals" and another, A E, who owned the roosters, was
also charged with mistreating animals. Seventeen of the other men arrested were
charged with gambling, fined and released.
Some defenders the practice were interviewed by Muhammet Tascilar anonymously
in Sanliurfa in February 2008. They insisted the cockfighting has generations
of history behind it and that it should be legalized and brought back out into
the open. They would like to see "Cockfighting Cafes" opened where birds could
be matched to each other by weight and have an open betting system much like
the one used for horse racing.
They're even prepared to concede fights to the death in order to get their
legalization and say that the roosters will fight until one flees or defecates
(like a technical knockout in cockfighting). The owners of the birds, who
valued them between 5,000 and 20,000 lira (roughly $4,000 to $16,000) are sure
of popular support locally. As one fight fan put it, on days the illegal
matches are held, "Hundreds of breeders from all over our area come." Certainly
the state would make more money from legalizing the fights as the current low
fine of 125 lira for gambling seems no deterrent.
One question that remains to be answered is what happens to the roosters
confiscated from their owners. According to newspaper stories the birds taken
in February went to the Banaz Agricultural Ministry office. Those in the April
Sakarya incident were simply reported as having become official property but
the July incident said that the roosters had been sent to the Istanbul Council
Vet's office for treatment after which they would be sent to an animal
sanctuary.
This reporter tried to track those cocks to ascertain their fate. I rang Recep
Zafer, the assistant to the head of the Veterinarian's Office at Istanbul
Council. He told me that they had not received any roosters in over five years
though they sometimes got fighting dogs and made the point that any animals
trained for combat were difficult to keep as they couldn't be housed with any
other animals.
He directed me to call the Kagithane council were the incident was reported to
have occurred. The secretary to the head of police, Ensar Gur, here had no
record of them and recommended I call the Kagithane veterinarian's office. But
they said they didn't have them either and said the incident was in Sisli and
to call the council there. The Sisli council denied any knowledge of the
feathered fighters and gave the telephone number for the Sisli Vet's office who
also knew nothing about them and gave the telephone number of the warden who
rounds up animals with no owners.
This last gentleman had never seen them and said, "There are no roosters and
even if there were there is no sanctuary for any roosters." It seems that these
poor man's pit bulls were all losers on that day and may have fought their
final fight with a sturdy policeman's wife and a cooking pot.
Fazile Zahir is of Turkish descent, born and brought up in London. She
moved to live in Turkey in 2005 and has been writing full time since then.
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