Putting The Record Straight - Mektup Of Obruk of Hisar.

I was reading recently, a very detailed article by an American Kangal enthusiast, about the origins of the Anatolian in the UK. Whilst very interesting, the article was very inaccurate in many ways. The old "Mektup was purchased from a woman in a supermarket carpark" story cropped up again, which is mainly what has prompted me to make this post! There were no mention of 'non-fawn' or 'non-shortcoated' or 'no-masked' dogs being imported to the UK by other breeders in the UK, which was interesting, as there are plenty of photo's and original documents floating about on the net to prove this was the case! The writer of this article has only been involved in Kangals since 1997, so no doubt has been 'spoon fed' all that is necessary to make someone an instant expert! I too have been to Turkey, I know where their dogs are from, and even met several of the breeders. Some of their dogs are related to non-fawn dogs, and 'maskless' dogs, and yet this is ommitted from their brags about their 'PureBred Kangals'. This person has also used photo's which are property of Hisar Anatolian Shepherd Dogs, and yet, no permission has been sought! There are references to events which have taken place at our UK Kennel Club, which are innaccurate, and obviously, obtained from an unreliable source.

Like an old wives tale, passed down from generation to generation of Kangal enthusiasts, the Mektup Carpark story will live on for many a generation yet i am sure, but for any one interested in the actual truth, i refer you to an article i wrote several years ago. What exactly qualifies me to write this, well, I spent 18 years with Natalka Czartoryska - Hisar Anatolians, from 1980, until 1998 when she passed away. I inherited 'Hisar'. I inherited all of her detailed records, from well before ASD's came to the UK, journals, photo's, but most importantly, I have communicated with Natalka's husband of that time, Dr Flemming, who passed to me all the infomation which enabled me to write my article. Dr Flemming was actually the importer of Mektup of Obruk, along with Natalka. Using the information from Dr Flemming, and Natalka's detailed journals, I published the following:

"Mektup was imported from a shepherding village in Turkey in 1971 as a puppy by Dr.Nicholas Flemming and Miss Natalka Czartoryska. She was bred by the shepherd Ali Ozturk from the village of Obruk, just south of the Central Anatolian Lake Tuz Golu. It is Dr Flemming's recollection that a great deal of bargaining took place between them and the shepherd to obtain the puppy they named Mektup.

Dr.Flemming and Miss.Czartoryska were on archeolical field trips to Rhodes, Crete, Cypress and Turkey. They travelled Turkey extensively between 1969 and 1974, and Dr Flemming recalls how thorough Miss Czartoryska was ith her selection process, and the length of time spent with the shepherds and dogs before bargaining for their best working dogs!
When Miss Czartoryska and Dr Flemming returned to the UK, Mektup was registered with the UK Kennel Club as an ‘Anatolian Karabas Dog’. (Karabas meaning black mask and ears, of which Mektups was perhaps one of the blackest I've seen!).

In 1975, Dr.Flemming and Miss. Czartoryska acquired a male Anatolian from Dr.Whittof-Keus, this dog was registered Anadol Yali, and in May that year, Mektup and Yali produced their first litter of 5 all fawn puppies (Aslan Temmuz, Bayan, Bir, Karina, and Saranda Pat.).
The next year, Mektup and Yali produced another litter of 5 all fawn puppies (Dev, Raki, Sanli, Tolgar, and Zarif).

In February 1977, Dr Flemming and Miss Czartoryska invested in taking Mektup back to Turkey to mate her to a suitable working dog. On the 13th February 1977 Mektup was mated to a fine white working Anatolian Shepherd Dog, Akkus of Oltan.
The notes on this dog made at the time say "Outstanding top flock guard in the area. Special expedition made from village with owner into mountains to ‘sheep station’ – finally mated Mektup to Akkus after 5 hours of courtship!".

Mektup was then re-imported to the UK, and in quarantine, on 15th April 1977, a litter of 6 fawn puppies were born. They were registered under Dr.Flemming’s ‘Havuz’ affix (Bokiz, Dalga, Kaplan, Tarak, Yosma, and Zinde). Interestingly, Havuz Zinde was acquired by Miss Pauline Hosker of the ‘Truvas’ kennel, and then went on to Mr & Mrs Broadhead of the ‘Seacop’ kennel for breeding, records showing that Zinde whelped at least three litters.There was a further Havuz litter out of Mektup, before the first Hisar Litter was registered in 1979 after the separation of Dr Flemming and Miss Czartoryska’s partnership. The first ‘Hisar’ litter was the pairing of Havuz Dalga, with a Turkish import Arilan, owned by Mr John Lloyd. The mating resulted in a litter of 4 fawn puppies registered under Miss Czartoryska’s ‘Hisar’ affix (Ates, Karaman, Tugla, and Yavuz). The same year, Miss Czartoryska produced another litter by Mektup and Yali, this time, a litter of 6, still all fawn! (Simar, Yagma, Yakin, Yanar, Yatagan and Yesim).

One of the most well known Mektup daughter’s is Hisar Yarin, who was a big show winner. She went to Miss Pauline Hosker’s ‘Truvas’ Kennel, where she whelped at least 5 litters.

Mektup whelped a total of 8 litters between 1975 and 1982 (43 Progeny). Mektup produced dogs which were sound, long lived and adaptable, and she herself was hip-x-rayed HD clear and lived a long happy life with Natalka ruling the roost until her death in 1987 from kidney failure.

This article is compiled using my own personal experience with Mektup, whom I had the pleasure of knowing for the last 7 years of her life, along with Kennel Club Records, and communications with Dr.Flemming (Oct.2004).

I hope that this information will help to put to bed the myths, rumours and fantasies about Mektup and her origins.

Havuz Anatolians 1975 – 1979 Dr Nicholas Flemming OBE.

Hisar Anatolians 1979 - 1998 The Late Miss Natalka Czartoryska.

Hisar Anatolians 1998 – present Mrs Caroline White."

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People should not be so quick to jump on the band wagon - these bloodlines are world-wide, and are in many of the foundation stock of many kennels still breeding today - check your dogs pedgree, thoroughly - you just might eat your own words! I know much has been written to discredit Natalka, funnily enough, most of it after she died and wasnt here to defend herself anymore. The particular Kangal Enthusiast who wrote their bit on Mektup and Hisar lines recently clearly had never spoken to Natalka, or obtained confirmation of the info they had been given!! Tut Tut!! No one sacrificed more, or was more dedicated to preserving the Anatolian Shepherd Dog than Natalka.

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