Camel Sacrifice - Istanbul Airport

Turkish Airlines has suspended their head of aircraft maintenance following the sacrifice of a Camel at Istanbul Airport.

The maintenance workers at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport were celebrating the completion of work on the last of a group of aircraft that were being sent to the United Kingdom.

The story was covered by Turkish newspapers with some showing photographs of the beast being led into the airport and of maintenance workers holding up chunks of meat, dripping with blood, after they had cut it to pieces. The workers had apparently clubbed together to purchase the camel and following the sacrifice each got a share of the meat.

It is common practice in Turkey for people to sacrifice animals to celebrate the completion of a task or mark a significant event.

Turkish Airlines is a member of the Lufthansa-led Star Alliance.