https://www.haytap.org/tr/turkey-passes-‘massacre-law-aimed-at-street-dogs-2024-august
Turkey Passes ‘Massacre Law’ Aimed At Street Dogs - 2024 August
On Tuesday, a potentially devastating new law aimed at getting stray dogs off the streets of Turkey was approved by the country’s parliament whilst thousands of animal lovers protested outside.
The 17-article legislation, dubbed by campaigners as the ‘massacre law’ mandates that municipalities will have to collect stray dogs and house them in government-run shelters where they would be neutered and spayed. Dogs that are terminally ill, pose a heath risk to humans, or are aggressive will be euthanised under the bill.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, whose ruling party proposed the bill, estimates that around four million stray dogs roam Turkey’s streets and rural areas.
The passing of the bill is a deeply upsetting blow to campaigners, but it does not signal the end of the fight. Ahmet Kemal Senpolat, a lawyer and president of Animal Rights Federation in Turkey (HAYTAP) tells us that the passing of the bill is “frustrating”, but that it can be appealed in the Constitutional Court.
“When it comes to the implications of the bill for us, it will not change much on our side as we are committed to defend the rights of those innocent living things with all [the] means we have.”
He continues: “animal rights preservation is a long-term, exhausting stride and we have been fighting bearing this fact in our mind since the beginning.” HAYTAP, he says, is committed to finding legal ways forwards and promises that, “our federation and activists across Turkey will start searching for collaborators to save millions of animals”.
Although committed to continuing the fight, the bill has hit Ahmet and other activists hard. “We have a shock and low morale like all concerned parties.”
“[It is] impossible to numerate their evils in our country” a press release posted by HAYTAP on Facebook reads. “Countless lives lost no matter children, adults or animals, numerous lives wasted, so [many] precious forests and rivers terminated.”
“And this last vote of theirs has proven once again their position at the lowest degree of humanity. They are simply bad people, no debate.”
How did we get here?
Turkish people are well-renowned for their love of animals, with a long history of taking care of street dogs throughout the country.
Take Boji, for instance. A dog who regularly rode Istanbul’s public transport and captured worldwide attention. He’s even got his own Twitter and Instagram account. Elsewhere, Tarçın, a street dog who was friends to many in Moda, lives on as a statue. In 2021, filmmaker Elizabeth Lo immortalised the street dogs of Istanbul in her documentary Strays.
However, the stray dog population has grown quickly. In 2004, a law was passed mandating all Turkish municipalities over a certain population threshold would be required to build public shelters and carry out ‘trap, neuter, release’ programmes. It was the government’s solution to eradicating the stray dog problem.
Source :
https://www.thewildest.co.uk/.../turkey-street-dogs-cull-law
