'Fok You' Animal Lovers!

turkce links to original Turkish article

(Hurriyet Newspaper, 20 November 2014)

//ed. note: 'fok' means 'seal' in Turkish//


          Get the message, animal-lovers?

Three applications were made yesterday to the Turkish Patent
Institute for the Fok You brand that has created a controversy.
The first application was made at 10:24 and contained the
following information about how the brand would be used:
"for processed and unprocessed skins and pelts for whips (!),
running sets, umbrellas, parasols, sun shades, canes.  Goods
not found in other classifications made from fake leather or
other materials."

The second application came at 12:07 and the last application
for Fok You was filed at 12:13.  Hatem Yavuz had made the
first application for "Fok You" in 2009.

Hatem Yavuz came out with the 'Fok You' brand at the 9th
Leather Fair the day before yesterday.  He was characterized
as "the Turk animal-lovers hate" in a Hurriyet article in 2009
because he hunts seals.  Yavus claims to control 82% of
the world seal skin trade, boasting that he hunts 200,000
seals annually.


"I love animals."  Posing atop a zebra he shot on a safari.

Yavuz has become the target of many organizations but he
says that "I get a reaction all over the world. I'm used to it.
If I don't do it someone else will. I love animals."  At the
fair there were complaints about Yavuz from visitors and
fair officials wanted him to remove the pictures of seals but
he wouldn't.

An official stated that "we do everything we can to protect
animal rights. As a sector we prefer the use of skins of
animals that are slaughtered for meat. But we can't tell
companies like his not to participate in the fair although we
warn them. We wanted to find a solution but he (Yavuz)
likes to stir the pot."