Turkey has approved a controversial bill allowing for the culling of millions of stray dogs, leading to protests in cities like Istanbul and Ankara.
The legislation permits the killing of unclaimed dogs that pose a threat to human life or health, exhibit uncontrollable behavior, or have incurable diseases. The main opposition, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), criticized the bill as a “law of animal massacre” and plans to appeal to the Constitutional Court.
Legislators approved Tuesday a new law aimed at removing millions of stray dogs from Turkey’s streets that animal lovers fear will lead to many of the dogs being killed or ending up in neglected, overcrowded shelters. Some also say the law could also be used to target the opposition which made huge gains in the country’s local elections months ago.
Deputies in the Turkish Grand National Assembly approved the legislation following a tense, marathon overnight session as the government pushed to have it passed before the summer recess. Demonstrations in cities across Turkey saw thousands call for the scrapping of an article that would allow some stray animals to be euthanized. Opposition lawmakers, animal welfare groups and others have dubbed the bill the “massacre law.”
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who now needs to sign the measure into law, pushed for the bill saying the country has a “stray dog problem.”
In Istanbul’s Sishane Square, hundreds gathered and issued a defiant message to the government. “Your massacre law is just a piece of paper for us,” the organizers told the crowd. “We will write the law on the streets. Life and solidarity, not hatred and hostility, will win.”
Protests organized by political parties and animal welfare groups were also held in cities across Europe, where there were warnings, the law could dissuade tourists from visiting Turkey.
Turkey’s main opposition party said it would seek its cancellation at the country’s Supreme Court.
“You have made a law that is morally, conscientiously and legally broken. You cannot wash your hands of blood,” Murat Emir, a senior deputy with the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, said Sunday night in parliament. He questioned why the bill called for healthy and unaggressive animals to be collected if they were not to be killed.
Others blamed a failure to implement previous regulations, which required stray dogs to be caught, neutered, spayed and returned to where they were found, had led to the growth in the canine population.
The Humane Society International said in a statement that it had written to Erdogan to raise concerns that the law will cause “unnecessary suffering and death to countless animals in a short-term fix that won’t deliver a long-term solution.”
Ali Ozkaya, of Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, or AKP, described the bill as a “demand of the nation.”