History of Cats As Told By a Cat: Turkiye

Kathy Enriquez
Oct 1
4 min read

MEEEOOOOWWW!!! Your favourite kitty is back! Sorry, I’ve been so busy with my Mum designing things and expanding our business (well, she does that part while I take a nap hehe). Anyway, I hope you’re ready to visit Turkiye today as part of my ongoing series, History of Cats As Told By a Cat.

If you’re new here, you can check out the first issue that started it all, completely free or for your soul.

➡️ History of Cats As Told By a Cat: Japan ⬅️

Anyway, if you have ever been to Turkiye, especially in Istanbul, or even seen videos on the internet, you just KNOW they love us there.

Ever wonder why that is?

Our Origin Story

You've heard of DNA and science and things. Well, it showed that we domesticated ourselves starting around 8000 B.C. in Anatolia. What or where is that? Well, that’s modern-day Turkiye (formerly Turkey) to you! No, not the bloody bird.

We cats are opportunists. We saw an opportunity, we took it! You hoomans started settling down and farming, which brought in rodents, so we decided to move in. Work smarter, not harder, they say.

Safe to say that this contract worked out for everyone. You hoomans keep your crops, and we get to sleep with a bully full of rats and the odd treats you give us! And you know what? You loved that so much about us, you didn’t even bother changing our DNA or domesticating us like dogs. To this day, our DNA remains mostly the same as our ancestors!

So, you know how I’ve covered the Vikings and Europe? Well, the bad side of Europe, anyway. Don’t worry, I’ll cover the good side when I feel like it. Back to the subject, we never got there until we boarded ships. It took about 3600 years before we started spreading and taking over the world. Cool, huh?

Purrophet Muhammed

This isn’t just specific to Turkiye, but it’s impawrtant to know. For any regions that practice Islam, Turkiye included, they will know about the Purrophet Muhammed. This man was born in 570 and passed away in 632 CE. He was the leader and founder of Islam. But we’re not here to talk about that. We’re here to talk about his love for us!

He had a cat named Muezza whom he loved dearly, as he should, and so should you! Anyway, you know the unwritten rule—when we sit on you, you do NOT move. Muhammed knew this long before you were even a thought. Muezza was sleeping on the edge of Muhammed’s gown, so peacefully that he didn’t have the heart to move him. Instead, he cut away the fabric so he could get up.

Later, he saw Muezza drink from the abdest. I guess that’s a fountain for believers to cleanse themselves before praying. Some hoomans saw this and told him, and do you know what he told them? He said it was fine and that we have the cleanest mouths.

On a different night, while Muhammed was praying, a snakey snek came out to try to bite him. A cat came out of nowhere and killed it, saving him. If you’ve seen videos online, you know that our reactions are much faster than a snake’s!

See why this man loves us so much? So much that it became known that if any hoomans were to kill one of us, they had to build seven mosques to atone for their sins. If we drink from an abdest, you are still to use that same water. We are deemed as clean. Duh, look at how much we clean ourselves! And it is your duty to provide us with food and water.

Istanbul’s Love For Us

The people of Istanbul, to this day, live by these rules. They take it so seriously. Any stray you see belongs to the community. All the hoomans band together to make sure we are well fed and taken care of. You’ll see little shelters, food and water bowls all around the city meant for us.

We will saunter into stores and restaurants like we own the place, because we do. You’ll see many social media accounts where all these hoomans with their businesses are paying the kitty tax. If you’re a butcher, you share some of that meat with us. If you’re a restaurant owner, you set aside some dishes for us. If you’re a clothing store owner, you let us sleep on your displays.

Of course, it’s not always sunshine and rainbows. In the poorer parts of town, you will see that some of us are skinny. We do have to hunt for our own scraps more there. So, if you ever visit, feel free to spoil us with all your food and water.

Some Famous Kitties

Gli

One of my distant cousins named Gli, who lived at the Hagia Sphia (a mosque), had people lined up out the door to pet her and take a selfie. Her name meant “Union of Love.” She passed away peacefully in 2020.

Tomblik

A very round cousin of mine named Tomblik became famous when photos of him went viral. He was always enjoying a glass of raki or tea. He passed away in 2016, but there was a petition to have a sculpture of him made. Sadly, it was stolen by some fools, but there was a public outrage because the statue of this magnificent kitty was found nearby afterwards.

Yeşim

Yeşim became super famous when videos of her strolling into a butcher shop like a customer. The kind hooman gave her some of the meat he was cutting up, and she continued to return. The stray passed away in 2022, and Ikram kept her memory alive by having a statue of her in his shop and helping other stray animals. Some of his regular customers are 20 of my cousins and even dogs!

Our Conquering Continues

From Anatolia to Asia, to Europe, to the Nordic regions, we have been taking over the world. And I’m not even done with the series!! I haven’t even touched on Egypt! Leaving that one for last, by the way. Just because that’s the one that most hoomans seem to know about and forget about the rest.