The Turkish parliament early on Tuesday approved a 17-article bill that led to widespread protests for paving the way for the mass killing of the country’s stray dogs and the main opposition party’s vowing to challenge it at Turkey’s top court.
The legislation, introduced by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), garnered the support of 275 lawmakers, all from the AKP and its far-right ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), while 224 others voted against it.
The parliament went to summer recess until October 1 after the approval of the bill.
Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Özgür Özel said his party would challenge the law at the Constitutional Court on the grounds that it contravenes the right to life guaranteed in the constitution.
The proposed legislation attracted widespread criticism and sparked protests as its first version would have allowed local municipalities to euthanize all dogs that pose a “threat to public safety.” It had to be revised after the broad meaning of the phrase prompted accusations from animal rights activists and opposition politicians that local municipalities could seek a shortcut by opting for the mass killing of dogs in their jurisdictions.
The revised version of the law does not make a direct reference to “euthanasia” as the word was taken out of the text due to public outrage, although there is an indirect reference to it through the Law on Veterinary Services, which actually bans euthanasia in general but sets strict conditions for the practice to be implemented in certain cases.
The most controversial article of the law, the fifth article, says dogs will be put down if they “present a danger to the life or health of people and animals, display uncontrollable negative behavior, have a contagious or incurable disease or whose adoption is forbidden.”
The law says homeless dogs should be captured en masse, placed in animal shelters and put up for adoption.
Lawmakers from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) and nationalist İYİ (Good) Party were also unsettled due to the approval of the legislation on stray dogs and accused the AKP and MHP lawmakers who voted in favor of the legislation, leaving a “bloody legacy” to their children.
They said the dogs will be doomed to die due to the poor conditions in overcrowded shelters.
Some deputies against the law wore white gloves stained with fake blood during the debate.
“Today is a dark day. Neither history nor humanity will forgive those who voted ‘yes’,” CHP lawmaker Aliye Timisi Ersever said.
The AKP, on the other hand, claims that the law does not aim for the mass killing of the dogs but their adoption.
In a country where millions of people have difficulty in even meeting their basic needs due to the skyrocketing cost of living, the number of people who would be willing to adopt stray dogs remains a question.
Animal rights campaigners, who fear the law is a cover for a huge massacre despite government denials, instead advocate for a mass sterilization campaign.
There were also angry reactions on social media following the bill’s approval in parliament, with people posting tweets with the hashtags “Withdraw the law,” “History will never forgive those voting in favor of the massacre law” and “We don’t recognize the massacre law.”
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said ahead of the debate that Turkey faced a problem “like no other civilized country” and which was “growing exponentially.” Erdoğan said that approximately 4 million stray animals are wandering the streets and rural areas of Turkey. While many of them are docile, an increasing number of dogs are seen roaming in packs, and numerous people have been attacked.
International animal welfare group Four Paws urged Erdoğan not to ratify the new law.
“Four Paws strongly condemns the killing (and) long-term mass sheltering of stray animals as means of population control, not only due to the suffering this causes… but also because this is an ineffective, inhumane and costly way to reduce stray animal numbers,” it said.
The most successful method was to catch, neuter and vaccinate the animals and then rerelease them, it added.
The CHP, which controls İstanbul and other major cities, had said its mayors would not implement the law if it were passed.
Demonstrations have taken place in recent weeks, including inside parliament.
The government has said mayors who refuse to carry out the law could be jailed.
It banned visitors’ access to parliament to avoid further protests.