Is love for dogs a sign of Westernization? Mehmet Ali Güller responds to Erdoğan's former speechwriter Aydın Ünal

Aydın Ünal, a former speechwriter for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, accused the CHP, DEM Party, and TİP of Westernization in his article titled "They are not defending dogs, but their lifestyles" in the newspaper Yeni Şafak, for their opposition to the euthanasia of dogs. 

Aydın Ünal wrote, "Even if the draft law prepared to end the terror of stray dogs is passed in its current form, it seems it will be insufficient to solve the problem. Despite this, the bloc consisting of the CHP, DEM, and TİP began an aggressive opposition from the very first day to prevent the draft from being enacted even in this form." 

Asking, "So what brings these 3 parties together on the dog issue? What could lead a Kemalist, a Kurdish nationalist, and a leftist party to determine a common stance once again?" Ünal continued: 

"We know that these 3 parties, beyond their apparent mask ideologies, carry the traits of being 'Westernist,' 'Modernist,' 'Secular,' and 'Admirers of Imperialism.' Even though there is no such problem as 'dog terror' in the West that they love so much, they see defending the terror of stray dogs as 'cool,' 'trendy,' 'in,' 'fashionable,' 'contemporary,' 'modern,' 'secular,' 'Western,' etc. Looking at it from this perspective, defending the terror of stray dogs actually turns into a defense of a 'lifestyle' for these parties."

RESPONSE FROM MEHMET ALİ GÜLLER

Journalist and author Mehmet Ali Güller responded to Aydın Ünal on social media, saying, "Erdoğan's former speechwriter Aydın Ünal has linked the love of dogs to Westernization in his column in Yeni Şafak!"

Stating that "This is not a matter of not knowing that the place of dog domestication in civilization is not in the West, but that it was first domesticated in the East, in Siberia, 23 thousand years ago..." Mehmet Ali Güller explained the background of Aydın Ünal's "Westernization" accusation as follows: 

"The fact that those who act as subcontractors for the West's imperialist projects accuse even the love of dogs of being 'Westernization' stems from an ideological stance. Namely:

Political Islamism tries to mask its Americanism with a so-called 'anti-Westernism.'

Political Islamism tries to cover up its Americanism by saying, 'What can we do, we are a NATO member.' 

Political Islamism rides in the West's expensive cars, sends its children to be educated in the West, but pretends to challenge the West by spilling a cup of coffee!

And they keep telling their base from morning till night, 'The West is like this, the West is like that.' 

The West loves these people so much; it keeps using them in our geography whenever it needs them against communism, and whenever it needs them against anti-imperialist nationalism."