Turkish parliament to feed cats in compound

ANKARA

Turkish parliamentary speaker’s office has instructed the establishment of a team to feed the cats in the parliament compound.

Following the efforts of experienced photojournalist Mustafa İstemi, who feeds the cats in the parliamentary compound with his wife İnci İstemi every morning, even on holidays, Parliament Speaker Mustafa Şentop instructed a team to be formed to feed the cats.

Daily Milliyet’s 79-year-old photojournalist, who has 59 years of experience in the profession, is known for his love of cats. He has been carefully feeding about 50 cats in the parliamentary compound with his wife every morning for 38 months.

In line with the instruction given by Şentop to the parliament’s general secretariat after contacting İstemi, feeding points will be determined for all cats in the compound and they will be fed three meals a day.

The presence of cats in the compound began nine years ago with a family of cats who started to take shelter in the garden of the assembly at the time of birth and then settled with kittens.

The mother cat, walking with her kittens among the sitting groups of the lawmakers in the garden, brought such vitality that all the employees mobilized for the cat family. They were named, cared for and even taken to the vet.

Attracting the attention of everyone who visits the parliament, the cats are now an indispensable part of the compound.

The parliament on early July 9 approved a long-awaited Animal Protection Law amendment that aimed to protect animals from being abused by humans, changing the scope of the crime committed against animals.

Accordingly, animals will now be removed from the “goods” status and will be counted as “living creatures” in the eyes of the law.

There are 4.1 million cats in Türkiye, according to the data of the European Pet Food Industry Federation (FEDIAF), as the pandemic has caused a boom in the tendency to own pets among Turkish people.

Around 78,000 pets from across the country were registered in a pet-tracking system called “PETVET” in 2021, according to a report by the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry.

Kitten adoption was mostly seen in the southern province of Adana, while old cat adoptions were mostly seen in the Aegean province of İzmir.

Mia, Pamuk (Cotton), Duman (Smoke), Tarçın (Cinnamon) and Badem (Almond) were the most popular cat names.