Turkey’s interior minister has pledged to fully apply a law to remove millions of stray dogs from the streets in the wake of the death of a two-year-old girl.
The legislation – labelled the “massacre law” by animal welfare groups – was passed by parliament last summer but has been only partially implemented, if at all, by municipal authorities.
It requires municipalities to collect stray dogs and house them in shelters to be vaccinated, neutered or spayed before making them available for adoption. Dogs that are in pain, terminally ill, or pose a health risk to humans will be euthanised.
“Either they will do this job or I will use whatever authority the law gives me to the fullest,” Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said in a video message posted on social media.
Rana El Selci died after being attacked by a pack of stray dogs in Konya, central Turkey, on Friday. Her death sparked fresh outcry about the four million stray dogs that the government estimates roam Turkey’s streets and rural areas.
A criminal investigation was launched following her death as municipal workers began rounding up dogs in Konya. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that the government was “taking determined steps to ensure the implementation of the law.”
A report released by the Safe Streets and Defence of the Right to Life Association, an organisation campaigning for the removal of all stray dogs from the streets, says that 65 people have died in street dog attacks since 2022, not including Rana El Selci.
Animal lovers fear the legislation will lead to dogs being killed or ending up in neglected, overcrowded shelters. When the law was passed, the main opposition party pledged that its municipalities would not implement the round-up of strays.
The issue divides Turks at all levels of society, with at least one former government minister having professed his admiration for “man’s best friend”.
During the COVID-19 pandemic five years ago the former Minister of Justice Adbulhamit Gul posted a photo of himself on X stroking a dog, saying: ‘‘we should not abandon our animal friends during these tough days.”
The post came as the government was publicly promoting feeding stray animals whilst Covid restrictions were in force.
Demonstrations in cities across Turkey, meanwhile, have seen thousands call for the law to be scrapped. There have also been protests across Europe, as people warned the law could dissuade tourists from visiting Turkey.
Some critics have blamed the growth in the stray canine population on a failure to implement previous regulations, which required stray dogs to be caught, neutered or spayed and returned to where they were found.
Turkey’s Animal Rights Federation, HAYTAP, posted a video on X showing stray dogs – and stray cats – peacefully coexisting with people in the street, in shops and even on the metro network.
On HAYTAP’s website the organisation recalls a previous attempt to get rid of stray dogs in 1910:
“In an effort to “westernise” Istanbul just before the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the Sultan ordered tens of thousands stray dogs from Istanbul to be sent to a nearby island.
– The island did not have food or water for the dogs, so this ended horribly with cannibalisation, starvation, and many dogs drowning trying to swim back. Records show reports of people on the mainland being haunted by hearing the howls of the starving dogs on the island.”
Animal rights activists are concerned that some municipalities might kill dogs on the pretext that they are ill rather than allocate resources to shelter them.
Videos showing dead cats and dogs buried in ditches have been circulating on social media. Animal rights activists say the animals were indiscriminately killed after the passage of the law.
