Turkish district marks liberation anniversary with parade of hunted boars
EDİRNE
A Turkish district has marked its anniversary of freedom from invasion with a parade of hunted boars, causing outrage among animal rights activists.
Hunters in the Enez district of the western province of Edirne paraded with the boars they killed during a ceremony organized to mark the 95th anniversary of the district’s freedom from invasion on Nov. 24.
Enez District Governor Elif Canan Tuncer Ersöz, main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Edirne lawmakers Okan Gaytancıoğlu and Erdin Bircan, Enez Mayor Abdullah Bostancı from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and representatives of political parties, as well as citizens, attended the ceremony, in which a parade took place after a speech by Bostancı.
The Enez Hunters’ Club’s parade was the most attention grabbing one, with dead boars loaded on trucks passing through the ceremony area, prompting animal rights groups to object to the incident.
“Did we save this country from enemy invasion by killing animals?” said Enez Protection of Natural Life, Environment and Stray Animals Association head Selma Yılmaz, as she added that the parade “showed killing as a legitimate act.”
“We are obliged to live with such narrow minded, shallow and barbaric people. This is a mindset that kills boars and exhibits them on a day of liberation and takes pride in it. Children are being raised in this type of environment. Killing is shown as if it’s a legitimate act,” said Yılmaz.
A similar incident took place in September, when a group of local hunters joined the 95th anniversary celebrations with the dead boars they hunted in order to mark the liberation of the northwestern town of Erdek from Greek occupation during Turkey’s War of Independence.
