A reader's letter - Sayın Okuyucular

Yesterday we received a comment from one of our readers that we feel desserves specific attention and a personal reply as there may be others who may have similar misgivings
Anonymous wrote: So how come in a Turkish country, where your audience should be the Turks (as after all its them you are trying to educate) is this website bilingual? is this how it works in Spain? and how come, only 4 people only left comments and all four are in English.. maybe its not serving the purpose like all others? why should Arif Eker resign? has any one calculated the aftermath? who knows someone who is worse wont come?

Our reply:

Dear Reader,

The blog you are reading is not bilingual but "quatrilingual" as it written not only in Turkish and English but also translated to German and Dutch, you have the links to those translations on the left, under our reader counter that is fast approaching the 41.000 mark.

This website is multilingual because our purpose is a double one, on one hand we are trying to educate the general public about the situation of animal wellfare in Istanbul in the hope the elevate their consciences and prompt them to follow our example, thus taking action against those who are, daily, violating the Turkish Animal Wellfare Law. On the other hand we are leting the world know what is happening here. If this blog was onlywritten in English we would understand your concern, but that, as explained, is not the case. If it was written in Turkish we would be neglecting a wider audience. Some of our readers are influential EU members and foreign animal wellfare organizations who are investing important amounts of money and resources in animal wellfare issues in Turkey therefore desserve and request to be informed. English, German and Dutch are languages spoken in countries where people care about this issue, countries that Turkey wishes to join in a fraternal club. There is no version in Chinese or Arabic for exactly the opposite reasons.

Most Turkish NGO's (non-governmental Organizations) publish bilingual websites, this is not exclusive of NGO's but of Business and Tourism Promotion Organizations. The aim should be to translate this blog to as many languages as possible.The question is not to wether to translate it to english, but to try to translate it to as many languages as possible. I am sure any NGO will agree with this point.

Your message implies that the changes in this Turkish nation must come from within, and we agree with you wholeheartedly, but they will only come once combined action from both within and outside is applied. We are doing both. I dont think this is the forum to explain you the role of international supervision in today's interrelated economies and political systems.

People leave comments sometimes, others they dont. That is the nature of the game. We are not trying to collect comments here we are after improving visibility and moving consciences. In newpaper blogs entirely in turkish sometimes people dont leave any comments either. It just depends as well on how that particular post is promoted. Also, we are sure in some cases people are so embarrassed for what I see that they have nothing to say, they are rendered speechless... this is precisely the reason why in our earlier post, the Trailer of Ghosts of the City everyone rushed to comment, because they know we are combining both approaches in a genuine effort to solve the problem.The carrot and sticks policy is a very old one in International Affairs, the moment you only give carrots the donkey becomes complacent and just will not move.

As for someone worst to come after Arif Eker.. well, it is possible, but there was also the possiblity of someone worst coming after Hitler and he was removed, someone worst coming after Nixon and he was impeached, a worst system coming after Appartheid but the system was abolished, Kohl, Aznar, Berlusconi... the list is long, there is no justification for corruption or ineptitude in a European democracy. And Turkey is, today, a democracy, there is no question of that.

Mind you, there was also the possibility of someone coming after Clinton.. and yes.. the world got someone much worst.. twice!

Our goal is not only to remove Arif Eker from his post. Our goal is to make the Istanbul Municipality and the public understand that there is a solution to the Stray Dog issue and that this solution is the correct implementation of Neuter and Return. Arif Eker is, unfortunately, not the man to implement such program.

Your comment implies a certain level of nationalism, one that is very worrying in today's turkish context. The problem of the treatment of stray dog is not just a problem of the turks. This is a matter of humanity and decency. We are not trying to bring down the nation here, we are just a growing group of mostly Turkish people that have grown tired of seeing institutional cruelty around them. Our only goal is to improve the country where we live, the country we love.

To use a quote by Ataturk: Our great ideal is to raise our nation to the highest standard of civilization and prosperity.

If you want to engage in an academic debate about civil society and animal wellfare we are more than open to and your questions will be answered in this blog.

Many thanks for your continous interest in our work.

Kind regards

EHDKD



Sayın Okuyucular,

Blog’umuza bırakılan bu mesajı fırsat bilerek genel politikamızla ilgili açıklama yapma ihtiyacını duyduk.

Mesajda, hedef kitlemizin Türkiye Cumhuriyeti vatandaşları olduğu hatırlatılarak, neden yazıları birkaç dilde yayınladığımız soruluyor.

Evet ilgi alanımız Türkiye’dir ve amacımız Türkiye’de hayvanlara yönelik şiddeti engellemek, Hayvan Hakları Yasasının doğru bir biçimde uygulanmasını sağlamak, yasaya ve insan vicdanına aykırı uygulamaların durdurulması için bilinç oluşturmaktır. Diğer yandan, bu mücadele Türkiye’nin özel bir meselesi ile ilgili değildir. En masum ve çaresiz olan hayvanlara yapılan zulumle ilgilidir. Bu nedenle de bizim gibi düşünen tüm ülke vatandaşları bu mücadelede bizim yanımızda taraftır ve hayvanlara yönelik şiddete karşı tavır alma, bize destek verme hakkına sahiptir. Ayrıca, bugün artık dünya ulus devlet sınırlarının çoktan aşıldığı global bir bütündür. Dünya vatandaşlarının, temel haklarla ilgili konularda hassasiyetlerini bildirme hakları vardır. Hatta temel hakların ihlalini engellemek amacıyla kurulmuş uluslararası kurumlar vardır; Avrupa Insan Hakları Mahkemesi gibi, Insanlığa Karşı Işlenen Suçlar Uluslararası Mahkemesi- International Criminal Court- ICC-- gibi. ICC Milosevic’i ülkesinden alarak savaşta işlediği suçlardan dolayı yargılamıştır.

Arif Eker’in görevinden alınması ile ilgili talebimize, “ya daha kötüsü gelirse” diye yaklaşmak ise sivil mücadeleden hiçbirşey anlamamaktır. Arif Eker Istanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi veteriner işleri müdürü olarak bugünkü kısırlaştırma uygulamalarından sorumlu kişidir. Uygulama Hayvan Hakları Yasasına aykırı bir biçimde devam etmektedir. Toplanıp, kısırlaştırılan hayvanlar yerlerine bırakılmak yerine, uzak ormanlara atılarak telef edilmektedir. Biz bir sivil toplum örgütü olarak, uygulamanın kanuna uygun bir şekilde yapılmasını ya da sorumlu kişinin değişmesini istiyoruz. Türkiye çoğulcu demokratik bir ülkedir ve sivil toplum örgütlerinin görevi, halkın vergileriyle maaşları ödenen ve kamuya hizmet etmek için görevlendirilmiş kamu çalışanlarının görevlerini kanuna uygun bir biçimde yapmalarını denetlemektir. Hiçbir sivil toplum örgütü “ya daha kötüsü gelirse” korkusuyla sorumluluktan kaçamaz. Hedefimiz, kanunu doğru bir biçimde uygulayacak, sivil toplum örgütleriyle dialog ve işbirliğine açık, çağdaş ve sorumluluk sahibi kamu görevlileri işbaşına gelinceye kadar yanlış uygulamaya karşı yasal mücadeleyi sürdürmektir.

Bu ve benzer mesajlar, ne yazık ki Türkiye’nin son günlerde içinde bulunduğu yükselen ırkçılık trendinin hayvan hakları mücadelesine bir yansımasıdır. Bu konuda tartışmanın platformu burası olmadığı için sadece şu kadarını hatırlatmak isteriz: Hayvanların ırkı yoktur. Hayvanlara yönelik şiddet bir insanlık suçudur. Biz ülkemizi sevdiğimiz için Türkiye’deki bu utanç verici uygulamanın durdurulmasını istiyoruz.

"Büyük hedefimiz, milletimizi en yüksek medeniyet seviyesine ve refaha ulaştırmaktır. " Ataturk

Saygılarımızla,

EHDKD