Erdoğan instructs to improve animal shelters

Ebru Karatosun - ANKARA

Following the brutality committed against dogs at a shelter in the Central Anatolian province of Konya, which made people infuriated and concerned about the safety of stray animals, a commission established by order of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has determined a roadmap for the improvement of shelters.

The commission included the agriculture and forestry, environment, urbanization and climate change, justice, interior and health ministers, some ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputies and the Union of Municipalities of Türkiye.

The commission, which held its first meeting in the past days, convened to discuss the improvement of shelters.

It was also discussed at the meeting to impose sanctions on municipalities that do not fulfill their obligation to open shelters under the animal rights law.

According to the law, provincial and district municipalities with a population of more than 25,000 are obliged to establish animal shelters in order to protect, care for and rehabilitate abandoned, weak or dangerous animals.

A video of a municipal worker hitting a dog with a shovel in Konya drew huge reactions from the public.

The provincial chief public prosecutor’s office announced that the suspects, Murat Bacak and Sefa Çakmak, were arrested. In the statements, the suspects said they hit the dog in self-defense as it attacked them.