Chickens Come Home to Roost, 75 Years Later

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Milliyet Newspaper, 10 July 2019)


                                    The chicks are back.

In the town of Bayır, in Antalya's Alanya district, 75 years ago the
village elders forbade raising chickens because of fights between
villagers sparked by the chickens damaging crops and vegetables.
Now, though, as a result of requests from the grandchildren, 6
villagers have begun to build coops and raise chickens once again.

In Takanlar, one of Bayır's two neighborhoods, located 52 kilometers
from Alanya, the ban on raising chickens began when the elders
issued the verdict in the early 1940s.  Thirty years later, in 1973, all
the chickens in Bayır's central area were slaughtered in accordance
with the ban.


             Don't dare call these ban-breakers "chicken"!

In recent years, because of the town's remoteness from Alanya
and the lack of grocery stores, 6 of the villagers began to defy the
75-year ban and are raising chickens again to have a ready supply
of fresh white meat and eggs - but with the blessing of their fellow
villagers.

Nevertheless, the ban officially remains in place and the chickens
are absolutely restricted to their coops.  One of the 6 villagers now
raising chickens, Hüseyin Selvi, explained that "our children asked
us to start raising chickens again so we're doing it as a hobby, to
be able to give them fresh meat and eggs.  The chickens are kept
in their wire-enclosed coops and don't stray out of them."