We understand that the Minister of Tourism, Mr. Ertugrul Gunay, has been sending the following letter to those who are participating in the Turkey Massacre protest. We are publishing it verbatim below:
“I am very much saddened by your email, and felt obligated to reply you in person.
I cannot justify the cruelty against animals or against any form of life. Nor I could ask for forgiveness.
Nothing could be more sacred than life itself.
I am deeply sorrowed.
We, proud humans, do always talk about harmonizing with the nature, build environmental management systems and certify, pretend to be a part of the ecology. But still, we cannot slow down the ‘most advanced living’ on earth, us, from savaging on life. Life in all forms.
Dog-fights, bull-fights, animal testings, factory farming… The list never ends. Just within the last decade, millions of fowl and cattle were terminated by human hands.
Yet, all this is not enough for inhumanity. Human lives, even in the middle of Europe, are being taken methodically, in front of our eyes. Civilians, are killed remotely, with the ‘state-of-the-art’ machinery, before they even know they were dying.
I remember a news broadcast, in which the overjoyed reporter was telling about the newly developed missile that could penetrate into deep underground shelters. Elaborate methods of taking lives even in refuge!
This hurts. This must hurt.
It does not matter, whether we are a part of the ‘civilized world’ and ‘authorized to criticize’ or among the ‘contemptible people’ of developing countries, we must stand against the organized reproduction of death. Defend life against inhumanity, without making selections, without taking preferences or making excuses… Unconditionally.
We have been sharing our house with them for over 20 years. We had named them Yodi, Miscia and Marcvs. But all these names diminish in time; they become our ‘son’, ‘daughter’ or even ‘sister’ instead. I know the affectionate but helpless look in their lucid eyes. The happiness they add to our lives. And how something breaks in you, when they fly away.
So I am, once again, wounded by the pictures, which have drawn you to sending an email.
Albeit displayed as concentration camps on the web, these dog-shelters in question have been first established by the animal-lovers’ initiative, with the help of local municipalities. My own son, was among the many who were carrying food to these shelters. But unfortunately, the number of four-legged guests in the shelters, has been increasing geometrically, making it almost impossible to give them proper space and care in the cities.
We, animal-lovers are very responsible for this increase, too. Sterilization is not a very common practice in our country. Resulting number of puppies -and kittens, are more than we can ever look after.
As a minister, I am not directly connected with these severe, hurting happenings, but as a person, as someone who has felt the heartbeats of these babies on his fingertips, I take my share from the blame.
I will try my best to raise funds for these animal shelters, and warn those responsible to avoid such sad events.
I would like to thank you for sharing your doubts with us. Now, we need your support, to create a better environment for our friends. Your corroboration will definitely encourage the volunteers working in these shelters”.Respectfully yours,
Ertugrul Günay
Dear Minister,
Had we known that you were this much of an animal lover, we would have invited you to come with us to a post dog-poisoning sight with us of your choice. The menu is rich – you might want to attend the latest one in the Pasa Mandira area of Beykoz in Istanbul. The latest we have from that region is that local animal volunteers are collecting the bodies of dogs which were poisoned and dumped into a river. Puppies too. We have become CSIs minister, running from one crime scene to another in pursuit of evidence against Turkish mayors, natural born dog killers as we like to refer to them. While your Yodi, Miscia and Marcvs were sleeping with you and your animal shelter volunteer son, scores of other animals were convulsing and coughing blood in the streets of Beykoz. How about that minister? Would you want to feel the heartbeats of these dogs in your fingertips too just before they died?
And minister, it is a clear move but you cannot blame any of this on us. “Albeit displayed as concentration camps on the web, these dog-shelters in question have been first established by the animal-lovers’ initiative, with the help of local municipalities”. It is our fault now that these shelters have become murder and torture chambers? No. We don’t think so. It is our fault that the number of animals in these shelters increase by the minute? No minister no. “We, animal-lovers are very responsible for this increase, too. Sterilization is not a very common practice in our country” – you say. Granted sterilization is not a common practice in our country and the number of animals in need in Turkey is increasing to an unmanageable number. True. But sterilization is the law minister – enacted by the parliament of which you are a member. That is actually why the law exists: to implement things that are otherwise uncommon. None of this is our
fault, none.
You know what minister – we don’t want your response. We don’t want your funds either. Please do not bother raising funds for us. All we want is for you to STOP MURDERING ANIMALS. All we want is that the law be obeyed. We will take care of the rest minister. Just leave us alone…
Not to be a mere observer of all these;
1- Join the tourism boycott .Click here.
2- Send e-mails to the following adresses of Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism telling them you or your friends will never visit Turkey as long as such massacres continue.
Mr. Ertugrul Gunay, Minister of Culture and Tourism : ertugrul.gunay@kultur.gov.tr
disiliskiler@kulturturizm.gov.tr
Get Discover Turkey,Hell on earth for animals delivered by email
I had that letter too : (
So did I, So much for it being a personal letter, This guy stinks !!