STOP PRESS !!!!!

As it was to be expected Turkey's press has finally picked up on the appalling situation created by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality's and the Head of the Veterinary Department, Arif Irfan Eker.

This weekend two of the leading newspapers in Turkey, Milliyet and Hurriyet have exposed the issue in their pages.

This fight will continue in the Administrative Court as well as in the Mass Media. Sooner or later the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality will come to realize that it is much easier, cost-effective and certainly better for PR purposes to manage Neuter and Return in a humane and professional way, and counting with our collaboration and supervision that leaving the whole responsibility of this crucial project under the control of companies and individuals of dubious repute.

The moment there is a firm commitment on the part of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality to make this project work in strict accordance with the Law, and guided by Humane Principles, we, EHDKD, as well as our friends of the Society for the Protection of Stray Animals, will be there to lend them a helping hand towards its successful completion.

Until then the fight will continue both in the Court as well as the public forum of national and international Media. It is up to Arif Eker and ultimately up to Kadir Topbas, the Major of Istanbul to decide which route to follow: a new way guided by humanity, legality and joint cooperation OR its current inhumane, illegal and dismissive behavior that is ending with the lifes of thousands of animals in an appalling display of animal cruelty and total disregard of both Law and public opinion.

EHDKD

Beklendiği gibi, Türkiye medyası, niyahet, Istanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi Veteriner Işleri Müdürlüğünün açtığı kısırlaştırma ihalesinin içyüzünü gündeme getirdi.

Bu haftasonu, Türkiye’nin iki yüksek tirajlı gazetesi, Milliyet ve Hürriyet bu konuya sayfalarında yer verdi.
Mücadelemiz, gerek idare mahkemesinde, gerek medyada devam edecektir. Istanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesinin, er veya geç, kısırlaştırma projesini insani ve profesyonel bir şekilde yürütmenin daha az maliyetli, daha kolay ve halkla ilişkiler açısından daha doğru olduğunun farkına varacağını ve bu önemli projeyi konu hakkında hiçbir deneyimi olmayan şaibeli şirketlerle değil, hayvan koruma derneklerinin işbirliği ve denetimi ile yapmanın daha akıllıca olduğunu anlayacağını düşünüyoruz.
Istanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi bu projeyi kanuna ve ahlaki açıdan kabul edilebilir bir şekilde yapmaya karar verdiği anda, biz EHDKD ve SHYKD olarak, projenin başarılı olması için onlara her türlü desteği gönüllü olarak vermeye hazır olacağız.
O an gelene kadar, hukuk mücadelemizin yanı sıra konuyu yerli ve uluslararası medyaya taşıma çabalarımız devam edecektir. Istanbul Büyükşehir Belediye Başkanı Kadir Topbaş ve bu uygulamadan sorumlu Arif Irfan Eker, isterlerse, bizimle işbirliği içinde, insani ve kanuna uygun bir icraata başlayarak, bu önemli projede başarılı olmayı seçebilirler, ya da binlerce hayvanın sorumsuzca telef edildiği bu uygulamaya, kanunu ve kamu vicdanını hice sayarak devam edebilirler. Tercih onlara kalmıştır.

EHDKD

The Sariyer Kocatas Shelter, belonging to the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality is at the center of a controversy that is now in the hands of the Administrive Court. EHDKD has been working voluntarily at the shelter for six years but was told by the Istanbul Municipality Veterinary Department, to leave the place in August. The director of EHDKD, Deniz Bingol told us the following:

“We were told to leave the shelter because Istanbul Municipality Veterinary Department opened a tender and gave the job of neutering of dogs to a firm. We were told that this firm would be working at Sariyer. First we were happy that the neutering would be done by a professional firm. But then we found out that the firm which was given the duty, was a pesticide firm. This made us have some doubts about the issue. After September, we started receiving photographs from the shelter; dogs were caught by men who had no experience in the job, they were operated by inexperienced vets in unsuitable conditions, post operative treatment was not given and dogs were dying either at the operation table or immediately after. These practices are against the Animal Protection Law and the technical regulations of the tender. Furthermore, most of the dogs were thrown into forests and in rabies quarantine areas. Our efforts to deliver these documents and information to the municipality were futile.”

Now the case is in front of the Administrative Court.