Politicians raise voice against mass killing of stray animals

ANKARA

In the wake of the controversial new bill on stray animals, which has sparked a disturbing increase in mass killings of strays, politicians from across the spectrum are raising their voices against the pervasive cruelty.

This criticism comes as a response to footage recently surfacing on social media showing the torture and killing of animals in Ankara, Niğde and Edirne provinces, the daily Hürriyet reported.

“This bill does not include any provision that justifies such incidents,” Agriculture and Forestry Minister İbrahim Yumaklı said, commenting on the controversial topic. “The legislative measures we implemented in 2004 and 2021 specify the consequences for such acts.”

The Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) Kahramanmaraş MP, Vahit Kirişci, also echoed the minister’s sentiments in his remarks.

“This law was not passed in order to slaughter innocent animals. This is a law that attempts to preserve animal life, not to facilitate their killing. It is not a law for mass extermination,” Kirişci stressed.

Meanwhile, labeling the law as a “massacre law” and noting that they protested against the bill from the very beginning, Republican People's Party (CHP) Vice President and Adana MP Burhanettin Bulut expressed strong disapproval of the incidents and called on authorities to put an end to the cruelty toward stray animals.

“We had all seen the terrible footage of dogs being shot, beaten, poisoned, left to starve in shelters and buried in mass graves. No law or moral justification can condone such acts,” he said.

Bulut recalled that they had anticipated such incidents and had cautioned officials not to rush the passing of the bill.

“We will apply to the Constitutional Court for the annulment of the 'Massacre Law.’ We are awaiting the Constitutional Court's ruling to immediately halt the execution.”

The article on euthanasia in the controversial bill has sparked months of heated debates and protests across the country. The bill involves a veterinarian deciding to euthanize dogs if they "pose a danger to the life or health of people and animals, exhibit uncontrollable negative behavior, have a contagious or incurable disease, or if their adoption is prohibited."

During committee discussions, however, the term euthanasia was removed from the proposal, and a reference to the Veterinary Law, which encompasses the same concept, was added instead.