Turkish Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi has vowed to have all stray dogs in Turkey rounded up and placed in shelters by the end of the year, signaling an accelerated push to enforce a controversial law that animal rights groups say could result in mass killings.
Çiftçi made the remarks during a meeting with a delegation from the Safe Streets and Defense of the Right to Life Association (GÜSODER), according to a post he shared Sunday on X.
Güvenli Sokaklar ve Yaşam Hakkını Savunma Derneği (GÜSODER) yöneticileri ve üyeleriyle Bakanlığımızda bir araya geldik.
Vatandaşlarımızın güvenliğini, huzurunu ve kamu düzenini korurken; sahipsiz sokak hayvanlarıyla ilgili meselelerin de kalıcı ve sürdürülebilir çözümlerle ele… pic.twitter.com/8f00JZzs2y
— Mustafa ÇİFTÇİ (@mustafaciftcitr) June 14, 2026
Referring to ongoing efforts to remove stray animals from the streets, Çiftçi said the collection rate would reach 100 percent within a short period of time.
“I will have all stray dogs collected into shelters by the new year,” Çiftçi said.
The minister added that the government was determined to implement the policy and would not make concessions.
His remarks come amid an intensified nationwide campaign to round up stray dogs under a 2024 law that requires municipalities to put them in shelters, a measure animal rights groups and opposition politicians say could pave the way for mass killings due to limited shelter capacity and weak oversight.
Çiftçi said in April that Turkey had rounded up some 75 percent of stray dogs under the campaign, with three out of every four animals taken either to shelters or to what authorities call natural living areas.
The policy, he said at the time, was intended to improve public safety and move dogs from the streets into municipal care.
Later that month an Interior Ministry adviser told parliament that Turkey had rounded up 78 percent of its stray dog population, saying about 1.2 million stray dogs had been caught across the country.
The adviser said the government now estimates Turkey’s stray dog population at about 1.25 million, far below earlier public estimates of 4 million.
The roundup follows amendments passed by parliament in July 2024 to Turkey’s Animal Protection Law, backed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its ally, the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
The legislation, Law No. 7527, requires municipalities to capture stray dogs and put them in shelters. Dogs deemed dangerous, terminally ill or unfit for adoption may be euthanized under provisions of the Veterinary Services Law.
While the bill initially included explicit language permitting euthanasia, that term was later removed from the text after public backlash.
Still, the law drew strong opposition from animal rights groups and the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which claimed that it opened the door to mass killings and failed to meet animal welfare standards. Critics dubbed it a “massacre law.”
Opponents have also said Turkey lacks the shelter capacity to implement the law humanely. Reuters reported when the law was passed that Turkey had an estimated 4 million stray dogs but only 322 shelters with room for about 105,000 animals.
The CHP petitioned the Constitutional Court in August 2024 to annul most of the law’s provisions, arguing that it violated the right to life and contradicted international agreements. But the court rejected the challenge in May 2025, leaving the law in force.
The government says the law is necessary to address public safety concerns, particularly after reports of dog attacks, traffic accidents and the risk of rabies.
Animal rights advocates, however, say the authorities should focus on mass sterilization, vaccination, adoption and stronger municipal services rather than large-scale collection campaigns that could leave animals confined in overcrowded or poorly monitored shelters.