‘I love them more than my children’: Generations of pigeon-keepers have brought up birds in the ancient city of Mardin, and not for purposes of espionage or industry
MARDIN, Turkey – Pigeons. Despised by some as pests, with some species even driven to extermination, these birds can be not only smart but spectacularly beautiful. The dove, venerated from the days of Noah, is a pigeon; it was therefore a pigeon that reportedly flew out of the ark as it floated somewhere over the land that is today Turkey and returned with an olive branch in its beak. Which begs the question of how fast that tree grew in the wake of the legendary flood.
But back to the bird: they may be scorned as car despoilers in New York and London, they may be eaten with sauce as a change from chicken in some places, but in the ancient city of Mardin in southeast Turkey, they are beloved.
Local, however, these birds are not. “They are from Mosul,” in nearby Iraq, says Murat Yel, 40, asked about the antecedents of his pigeons as they eat seeds and wander up and down the stairs under the afternoon sun.
The birds, about 15 in number, are gently herded by his son Murtaz, 9, as they strut on the stone staircase that serves as a street in the ancient mountaintop city.
Yel is a professional pigeon-keeper. There are many such in Mardin, says Alim Kocabiyik, a licensed tour guide.
Yel specifically is continuing a family tradition that goes back generations and is teaching his son the profession too, he says. “I love the birds more than my children,” Yel avers, perhaps indulging in hyperbole. His son Murtaz smiles and nods.
