THE father of a Scottish toddler shot dead on holiday today called on the Turkish government to tackle the country's "enormous" gun culture.

THE father of a Scottish toddler shot dead on holiday today called on the Turkish government to tackle the country's "enormous" gun culture.

David Grimason, from East Kilbride, travelled to Izmir, in Turkey, to join a demonstration calling for tighter gun controls.

In July 2003 his two-year-old son Alistair was shot dead after a gunfight broke out in a cafe in the coastal resort of Foca.

His mother and grandmother had gone to the cafe for a meal and Alistair had been asleep in his pushchair when the gunfight broke out at a nearby table.

In July 2004 Daimi Akyuz was found guilty of killing Alistair and jailed for 36 years.

Since the shooting Mr Grimason and his Turkish wife Ozlem have campaigned for tighter gun controls.

Estimates suggest there are seven million unregistered guns in the country and every year people die in incidents involving handguns.

In Izmir, Mrs Grimason's home town, a march takes place annually calling for action.

Mr Grimason said: "I have attended this event each year since my son's death.

"The death rate in Turkey is still very high so still we have to try to change people's attitude towards guns.

"The Turkish government needs to accept the enormity of the problem and take the necessary actions."

Mr and Mrs Grimason last year joined campaigners in London to mark the United Nations General Assembly's endorsement of an arms trade treaty and went to Kenya to highlight the devastation caused by illicit trade in small arms.

Alistair's name is now known all over Turkey and a street in the village where he died has been named Alistair Road.