A statement from Akin Koc, Managing Director, Anatolian Sky Holidays:

The current ‘bird flu’ in Turkey seems to have caused some unnecessary panic
with many reports being taken well out of proportion.

There is currently no risk to people providing they are not in direct
contact with contaminated poultry and so far we have not seen any evidence
of it spreading from human to human.

To put this into context, we have so far seen the death of just four
children in the East of Turkey, with the distance to the holiday resorts
being the same as London to Vienna!  All the children were in direct contact
with contaminated chickens, with none of them being taken to hospital for
over a week, their deaths may have been prevented.

There is also the fact that the ‘bird flu’ virus cannot survive temperatures
over 20 degrees centigrade, with the temperature of our Turkish resorts from
May onwards being upwards of 25 degrees centigrade.  There is no fear of
acquiring infection from consuming poultry or poultry products that have
been prepared and cooked properly as the virus will not survive the cooking
process.  However, for peace of mind we have been in touch with all of our
properties, and advised them to avoid any poultry meat and they have happily
promised to do so (although this cannot be guaranteed 100%).

The Turkish government are taking the situation very seriously and have
managed to collect and destroy over 1 million poultry with an intense
campaign.  They are making the Turkish public well aware of the dangers,
particularly in the villages, where some children have been in direct
contact with sick or dead poultry.  The Turkish government are only allowing
the farming of poultry in controlled farming businesses rather than peoples
back gardens.

Finally I should say that it is no more dangerous to travel to Turkey than
any other country at present.  There is no epidemic and the ‘bird flu’ is
now under control.  Turkey is as safe to travel to as it has been in the
past.  For extra safety we are advising our clients to avoid direct contact
with any poultry alive or dead as this could apply to any country, not just
Turkey.
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