What a translator fails to capture and suggestions of the editor

This article analyzes "editing", which has recently started to become institutionalized in Turkey, and the "editortranslator" relationship. In Turkey, editors - just like translators - do not play a prominent role, let alone getting the respect they deserve. Usually, a book is referred to by mentioning its author only; and neither the editor nor the translator of the book is properly cited. Yet, an editor is the "assurance" of a published book (Gümüş 2011: 44). Goethe, Brecht, Nietzsche, Zweig did not write in Turkish, but it is the translators who have made them talk in Turkish. Interestingly enough, the editor-translator relationship is different than the editor-author one. Typically, editors tend to edit translations more freely than the original pieces. However, they should know that translation "is not a plain transmission of words; but it is rewriting a passage in another language" (Bora 2011: 34), hence, a translator produces "a piece of literature", too. Attempting to clarify the duties and responsibilities of editors, in this study the author analyzes using a piece of work by Jean-Paul Roux, entitled Eski Türk Mitolojisi and translated by the author himself from German to Turkish the editortranslator relationship as well as the vital role that an editor plays in publishing, i.e., intervening for the purpose of improving/ developing.