Thousands in Turkey protest 'massacre law' targeting millions of stray dogs

Thousands of protesters gathered in Istanbul on Sunday to protest recent legislation that critics say is leading to the killing of stray dogs across Turkey.

Animal lovers fear it will lead to widespread culling or dogs ending up in disease-ridden and overcrowded shelters and called for the law to be repealed, brandishing posters reading ‘shelters are death camps’ and ‘withdraw the bloody law.

Last month, Turkish legislators approved a law aimed at removing millions of stray dogs from the country’s streets that animal lovers fear will lead to many of the dogs being killed or ending up in neglected, overcrowded shelters.

“We want this law to be withdrawn immediately,” protester Hasan Kizilyatak, 64, told The Associated Press. “They (stray dogs) are living beings, just like us. We are here because we are against them being annihilated.”

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Ayten Arslan, 55, who said she supports Erdogan, also showed up to protest.

“Just like we stood beside our president on July 15 (2016) when there was a coup attempt, we are here for the stray animals,” she told the AP. “I say as an AK Party supporter, this law, is a bloody law.”

Following the law approved in July this year, people gathered in Istanbul’s Şişhane Square issued a defiant message to the government. “Your massacre law is just a piece of paper for us,” the protest organisers told the crowd. “We will write the law on the streets. Life and solidarity, not hatred and hostility, will win.”

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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the law was necessary to deal with the country’s “stray dog problem.”

The main opposition Republican People’s Party moved to repeal the law in the Constitutional Court less than two weeks after it passed.

The government estimates that around 4 million stray dogs roam Turkey’s streets and rural areas. Although most are harmless, several people, including children, have been attacked.

A report released by the Safe Streets and Defense of the Right to Life Association, an organization campaigning for the removal of all stray dogs from the streets, says that 65 people have died in street dog attacks since 2022.

The legislation says dogs will be put down if they “present a danger to the life or health of people and animals, display uncontrollable negative behaviour, have a contagious or incurable disease or whose adoption is forbidden”.

It says local councils must build animal shelters and implement the law by 2028. Mayors who refuse could be jailed for up to two years.

With inputs from agencies.