VOICES EXCLUSIVE

UNWITTING volunteers who organise popular events in the name of charity – in local bars, other venues or even on social media, such as Facebook – may well face hefty fines if they act without first obtaining a license to do so.

Charity events in local bars – for everything from street dogs to children and expats’ plights to refugees – could now well be at an end after it emerged that a prominent local businessman in Didim was fined for doing exactly the same.

Voices Newspaper can reveal Blake Maynard and Jill Noble, two administrators on the Altinkum Debate Group on Facebook, were each fined 1,236TL.

Letters from the Didim Governor’s Office – and signed off by the Didim Governor Iskender Yon

Blake Maynard

dem – were sent to their private addresses in Didim.

It appears they were fined  for organising a charitable event via their Facebook group to raise money for school uniforms for children in Didim last December. The group had planned to base the event at a local restaurant and bar.

However, the pre-event promotion only raised £50 from one donator.

Ironically, the event never went ahead as it was called off and the £50 was eventually returned to the donator, plus interest.

A shocked Mr Maynard said the fine had come “completely the blue” and foresaw major problems for others who were not aware that they needed a specific license to be able to raise money for charity.

He added that he suspected he and Ms Noble had fallen foul of the law because of a complaint the authorities had received in relation to the event.

He said: “This could well be the death knell for popular events in the town where individuals organise an event at a local bar and raise money for a specific charity if that person does not have the required licence to do so.”

“There’s a lot of people that host or organise events in the name of charity – such as street dogs – and now the question is: are they licensed to do so?”

He added that administrators on Facebook groups who allowed or organised charity events locally could now also befall the same.

“I’ll take this fine on the chin. It doesn’t effect me but the wider implications and ricochets back on volunteer fundraisers could be quite severe.”

The letter fining the couple – Jill Noble and Blake Maynard.

The law regarding licensing for Turks and foreign residents has always been in place – so it’s not a new law that is suddenly coming into target foreigners.

He said: “On questioning the authorities, they reckon I could have been deported for it.”