Monkey Business in Alanya

monkey links to original article

(Milliyet Newspaper, 13 December 2011)

In Çıplaklı town of Antalya's Alanya district, a monkey that stole food
last friday made its way into a chicken coop and killed some chickens.
The monkey's secret has now been solved. Town officers tried mightily
but in vain to capture the creature which, it turns out, was stolen from
Kemer town.

Cuma Avcı, who runs an internet cafe in Çamyuva town, claims that the
monkey belongs to him but that it was stolen, along with its cage, a
week ago from his backyard. Avcı explained that the 8-year old monkey's
name is Haydar and he said that 'a week ago a thief entered my home, stole
some money and jewelry, along with the monkey and his cage which
were in the garden. I filed a complaint with the Gendarmerie. I've been
looking for it for a week and the Gendarmerie called me to tell me that
a story had been published about a monkey in Alanya's Çıplaklı town.
I then watched the news report on the internet and saw that the monkey
has a scar under its neck just like mine. The monkey definitely belongs
to me.'

Avcı stated that as long as food or drink wasn't taken away from him
the monkey wouldn't attack anyone and he said he would go to Alanya
to search for the monkey. Avcı also explained how he came to own the
monkey: 'A monkey entered the garden of my home in the Uzunçınar
neighborhood in 2000. I started to watch the monkey and afterwards
the monkey gave birth to four offspring. I sent two of them to
Diyarbakır and one other died. Haydar is the last of the four that
mother monkey bore. I had an identity card issued from the vet and
named him Şeftali (peach) but we kept calling it Haydar and that
name stuck. Contrary to the news report, he wouldn't eat chickens.
He'd play with them,pluck their feathers and jump on them but he
wouldn't eat them. He may come up alongside someone and steal
their wallet though. He's a bit naughty.'