The Islamist Erdogan government has taken steps to legislate a new law focusing on tackling the country’s stray dog population which has grown to millions of animals throughout the country.

Turkish legislators approved a new law aimed at removing millions of stray dogs from Turkiye’s streets.

Politicians claim the aim is to reduce the aggressive street dogs and keep the streets safe while critics claim it is a smokescreen to persecute municipal mayors from the opposition.

New Law

The new law banning street dogs many fear will lead to the killing, torture and further abuse of street dogs which roam the streets of the country.

The law which takes aim at cleaning the streets from dogs, mainly for safety reasons, forecasts a major overcrowded of animals shelters.

Currently there are over 4 million stray dogs living on Turkiye’s streets, if 5% are sick with rabies this could mean over 200,000 dogs could be infected.

Critics of the new law argue that legislation will be used to target the political opposition, which made took over control over many cities in the country’s latest local elections.

The stray dog legislation carries with it penalties for city mayors who fail to carry out its provisions or administer the law effectively.

Tense Overnight Marathon

Due to disputes with the Erdogan government which is seen mainly as an Islamist party, the main opposition party has pledged not to implement the law.

Deputies in the Turkish Grand National Assembly approved the legislation following a tense overnight marathon session to approve the law.

The federal government pushed to have the law passed before the summer recess in order to begin its campaign against stray dogs before the fall.

Demonstrations in cities across Turkiye saw thousands call for to scrap a component of the law that would allow some stray animals to be euthanized.

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Massacre Law

Opposition lawmakers, animal welfare groups and others have dubbed the bill the “massacre law.”

The next steps for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, will be to sign the approved bill into a federal law with specific regulations and penalties.

Erdogan thanked his ruling party and allied parties’ legislators who voted in favour of the law following an “intense and tiring” political debate.

“Despite the opposition’s provocations and campaigns based on lies and distortions, the National Assembly once again listened to the people, refusing to ignore the cries of the silent majority” -President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Turkiye’s federal government has estimated that more than four million stray dogs roam Turkiye’s streets and rural areas main of whom are considered feral.

Although many of the stray are harmless, a growing number of the dogs are congregating in packs to protect themselves.

As a result of the stray dog packs, several individuals have been attacked causing a danger to residents and tourists alike.

Stray Cat Population

Interestingly the country’s large stray cat population is not a focus of the bill, leaving many who oppose the law to accuse the Erdogan government of anti-dog legislation.

Istanbul is known as the ‘capital of stray cats’ according to the mayor of the city.

Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, constituting the country’s economic, cultural, and historical heart.

The feline population congregates around popular sights like the Hagia Sophia and even have official permission to enter mosques across the city.

A lot of the stray cats are extremely feral, however they are kept well fed by residents who often leave out food and water.

In the context of the Ottoman Empire, cats played a critical role in controlling rodent populations, thereby curbing the spread of disease and reducing food loss.

In Istanbul’s Sishane Square, hundreds of demonstrators gathered and issued a defiant message to the Erdogan government.

Demonstrators Chanted

“Your massacre law is just a piece of paper for us, we will write the law on the streets. Life and solidarity, not hatred and hostility, will win.” – the demonstrators chanted.

Animal lovers in the capital Ankara protested outside municipal offices in dispute of the discriminatory law designed to focus on dogs.

To defiant cheers and screams, a statement was read to the demonstrators: “We are warning the government again and again, stop the law. Do not commit this crime against this country.”

Protests organized by political parties and animal welfare groups were also held in cities across Europe.

Dissuade Tourists

There were warnings the new law could dissuade tourists from visiting Turkiye, which has already been struggling to keep people coming with the high rate of inflation.

Turkiye’s main opposition party said it would seek its cancel the law at a Supreme Court hearing calling the law against the will of the people.

“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.

Emir questioned why the bill called for healthy and unaggressive animals to be collected if they were not to be killed.

Previous Regulations

Many critical of Erdogan’s government blamed the growth in the stray canine population on a failure to implement previous regulations under his governance.

The previous regulations required stray dogs to be caught, neutered, spayed and returned to where they were found.

The Humane Society International said in a public statement that it had written to Erdogan to raise concerns about his new law.

The concerns raised include the “unnecessary suffering and death to countless animals in a short-term fix that won’t deliver a long-term solution.”

Ali Ozkaya, a Turkish politician and lawyer of Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, or AKP, described the bill as a “demand of the nation.”

The new legislation requires municipalities to collect stray dogs and house them in shelters to be vaccinated, neutered and spayed before making them available for adoption.

Automatically Euthanized

Dogs that are in pain, terminally ill, or pose a health risk to humans will be automatically euthanized for public safety.

Many who oppose the law question where cash-strapped municipalities would find the money to build the necessary shelter infrastructure to house the new strays.

The Republicans People’s Party (CHP) which won many of Turkiye’s biggest municipalities in elections, confirmed it would not implement the Erdogan law.

However, the newly passed bill introduces prison sentences of up to two years for mayors who do not carry out their duties to tackle strays.

Politically Prosecute Opposition

Many global political pundits are suspicion of Erdogan’s law claiming it will be used as a motive to politically prosecute opposition mayors.

The government denies the bill would lead to a widespread culling of animals or that its purpose is to politically prosecute the opposing party.

In spite of Erdogan government statements, many still believe the penalties for mayors who do not enact the law are steep.

This is especially true given that Erdogan’s own government did not get punished for not abiding by its own laws to prevent the overgrowth of strays in the country.

Adoption Law

Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc told the media that anyone killing strays “for no reason” would be punished severly.

“This is not a ‘massacre’ law. This is an ‘adoption’ law,” Agriculture and Rural Affairs Minister Ibrahim Yumakli told HaberTurk television in a nationwide interview.

Murat Pinar, who heads an association campaigning for measures to keep the streets safe from stray dogs, says the ultimate goal is safety.

Pinar claims at least 75 people, including 44 children, were killed as a result of stray dog attacks or by traffic accidents caused by dogs since 2022.

In 2022, Pinar’s nine-year-old daughter, Mahra, was run over by a truck after she fled from two aggressive dogs chasing her.

Controversial Among Many

Most of the Turkish people have taken a side regarding the new law which is seen as controversial among many.

In Istanbul, a resident by the name of Cigdem Aksoy said she was so upset by the vote that she couldn’t sleep at night.

Aksoy believes these animals who look into our eyes and ask for our help will be annihilated by authorities, where she feels no one can take a life that was created by God.

Whereas another Istanbul resident named Adem Coskun, said his grandson was bitten by a stray dog, so he welcomed the measure to keep the streets safe.

According to Coskun authorities should take the dogs off the streets and find them homes or put them under protection to make the streets safe for all residents especially children.