The Strange Case in which the People Go on a Collected Fly Hunting in Istanbul

At that time, life became unbearable for the people of Istanbul, who were almost invaded by black flies, and all the people He was worried about getting rid of these creatures and breathing a sigh of relief.

According to an allegation Even the phrase “fly hunting” appeared after this event. Let’s look at the details of this strange story, what was the solution to the case, the people and the government.

Istanbul in the summer of 1959; It was struggling with drought caused by thirst, environmental pollution and heat wave.

For these reasons, the flies that invaded the city became a nuisance to the people of Istanbul, and the pesticides were not enough to stop these creatures. The state, which seeks remedies to put an end to the flies that affect the entire city, He found the solution by arranging a fly hunt.

The situation was so dire that participation in this event, which the government saw as the only solution, was mandatory. Even those who did not attend would be fined. In short, all the people had to take a racket and take to the streets whether they wanted it or not.

Even the newspapers ask every day, “How do we get rid of black flies?” It was full of headlines.

In addition, the use of horse-drawn carriages was quite common at that time, and therefore the presence of flies increased day by day. The flies had so restricted the life of the people that people almost they could not sleep, eat and leave their homes and go to work.

Of course, as always, there were people in 1959 Istanbul who were willing to turn the crisis into an opportunity. used to kill flies fly rackets had fallen into the hands of black marketers and the public had to buy them at very exorbitant prices.

The people of Istanbul were helpless at the point of destroying the flies, and the Istanbul Provincial Health Directorate stepped in.

The Directorate stated that they can kill about 40 to 50 flies a day with their own efforts and that all the people of Istanbul should do the same if they want to get rid of this problem. Istanbul Mayor focused on overcoming this problem, held a detailed meeting with the municipality employees and discussed what they could do.

Finally, it was decided to put that ingenious idea into action, which will leave the mouths open. Collective fly hunting with the participation of all Istanbul residents has started!

The flies were breeding, causing 40 thousand new flies to appear in an average of 40 days, which signaled that the fly problem would not be easily solved.

However, in Istanbul, which has a population of approximately 1.5 million, If everyone killed 10 flies a day, wouldn’t it be possible to get rid of a total of 15 million flies? The mayor set out from this idea and made a call to the public in the media channels. On August 17, there was going to be a mass fly-fishing in the city!

When the clocks show 13.00, all Istanbulites, He started fly fishing with his rackets in hand. Everyone had to join the hunt because probably no one would want to face a penalty for such a reason.

At the event held that day, the government He announced that 10 million black flies had been killed. However, this figure was not enough to put an end to the black fly problem and it was decided to carry out mass fly hunting every Monday.

But as the weeks went by, the public was giving up and attendance was dwindling. Finally, with the coming of the winter months, fly population tends to decrease And this problem solved itself.