WDF President Mr. Ciro Boiano, fed up with the numerous reports, decided to investigate the matter and today published the following statement:
“I continue to receive reports about Fatih Pehlivan, who has been missing for several months. They tell me that, since founding an association called IKC, he has been running a fake pedigree business, selling certifications from Turkey to other countries, often using the name of the reputable World Canine Federation to reassure his victims.”

THE FACTS:

“Fatih Pehlivan joined the WDF in 2021 as a representative of the Turkish club AKD, which later became KDF due to undisclosed legal matters. From that point on, he worked hard to rise to the top of the WDF as vice president, abusing my trust.”
“In 2023, he began exhibiting anomalous behavior with the union’s member states, entering into secret agreements with other clubs in the same countries where we were officially present. This triggered an escalation of events that led to his expulsion and removal from office by a unanimous vote of the member states’ governing boards for serious violations of the agreements.” “Towards the end of 2023, Fatih Pehlivan began engaging in commercial collaborations prohibited in our circuit (selling titles, counterfeit certifications, and unissued licenses), and for this reason he was removed from the federation’s register of dog handlers, and the club he represented was expelled from the federation.”
At the beginning of 2024, he embarked on a dangerous path that saw him collude with shady Italian figures in an attempt to weaken the federation itself and dismantle its structure. Indeed, with false statements, he implicated me in a series of legal actions that obviously came to nothing. The fact remains that I will still have to defend myself from several unfounded accusations leveled against me. I managed to resolve the matter quickly and was able to count on the board of directors and the federation team, who led the federation admirably in my absence. Today, despite everything, and after losing several member states of the Union, pushed by Pehlivan to abandon the WDF, the latter is on a strong recovery and has over forty member countries. Many new friends have replaced the old clubs that left, and I thought I would never hear of Fatih Pehlivan again. However, there are so many reports of people, breeders, and clubs who have been defrauded by this individual and are turning to me to find him. The fact is that Fatih Pehlivan has been missing for several months. We don’t know if he’s under arrest or, worse, in some state. The last thing we know about him is that he left for a supposed business trip and disappeared. Since then, Pehlivan’s board members and his club in Turkey have not heard from him, so we urge everyone to share this message so it reaches those defrauded by Mr. Pehlivan…”

CONCLUSION:

“The WDF World Dog Federation has nothing to do with Fatih Pehlivan and his actions, nor with the clubs he represents, such as this fictitious IKC, which isn’t even registered as a federation.

To date, we are aware of several clubs that are still part of this fake federation and that in turn defraud their members by citing non-existent international recognition.”
Please be careful about all this, because the fight against monopoly must not be used as a deceptive tool to deceive industry professionals. We are all part of an alternative world, outside the FCI. We choose to act according to a different ethic, but our industry is often dragged through the mud by these individuals who create unincorporated and fake associations for profit, simply to sell fake certifications.

Despite this, we will try to help victims of scams by this individual, so please contact the WDF clubs in your country. If there are none, please contact us privately to find solutions.
Thank you for your attention.

Many kennel club presidents, realizing the gravity of the situation, have chosen to leave the IKC and quickly distance themselves from it.