Fighting 2004 no-kill law, Turkish prime minister Erdogan runs for dogcatcher

Criticized for economy & backing Hamas,  Erdogan changes the subject to dogs in traffic

ISTANBUL, Turkey––Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling Justice & Development Party have in effect bet their political future on the proposition that they remain popular enough after 22 years of rule to be elected dogcatcher.

Central to the Erdogan and Justice & Development Party platform is a bill introduced in draft form on May 29,  2024 which would require municipalities to impound stray dogs,  hold them for 30 days for possible reclaim by owners or adoption,  and then kill those not reclaimed or adopted.

Has Erdogan thrown himself to the dogs?

“Erdogan and his nationalist allies command a majority in the parliament.  The bill is therefore likely to become law,”  assessed Al-Monitor chief correspondent Amberin Zaman on June 18,  2024,  but first the Justice & Development Party must hold the majority.

Should Erdogan and the Justice & Development Party fail to pass their dog bill,  Erdogan will in effect have thrown himself to the dogs with a multi-year effort to make it more about dogs than the economy,  human rights,  or his strong support for Hamas.

Why Israel vs. Hamas is at issue in Turkey

The Erdogan regime support for Hamas is particularly contentious because Israel remains among Turkey’s top dozen trading partners and suppliers of military hardware.

Turkey,  before Erdogan became first prime minister of Turkey and then president,  historically had friendly relations with Israel,  beginning when Turkey in 1949 became the first Islamic majority nation to diplomatically recognize Israel.

That Erdogan made his platform about dogs,  may have been a major political and cultural miscalculation,  likely to weaken the Justice & Development Party grip on the Turkish government,  even if Erdogan remains president.

Turkish Islamist party opposes killing dogs

            “A common trope in Western lore,”  wrote Zaman,  “is that Muslims view dogs as dirty and undesirable.

“It may hence come as something of a surprise that Fatih Erbakan,  the leader of the overtly Islamist New Welfare Party,  is — alongside Turkey’s pro-secular main opposition Republican People’s Party — one of the loudest critics of a controversial bill to potentially cull millions of stray dogs.

“Erbakan said the bill drafted by the Justice & Development Party ‘violates the spirit of the Prophet Mohammed’s teachings.’

(See What did the Prophet Mohammed really say about dogs?)

“Ironically,”  Zaman continued,  “it was the Justice & Development Party that introduced Turkey’s first comprehensive animal rights bill in 2004,  in line with European Union norms,  when Erdogan was his earlier reformist self.  That bill banned the killing of stray dogs except under conditions laid out in the Animal Health & Inspection Act.”

A no-kill nation since 2004

The 2004 bill,  explained Azerbaijani blogger and Al Jazeera correspondent Arzu Geybullayeva on May 27,  2024,  “legitimized the catch,  neuter, vaccinate,  return method” of dog population control,”  modeled after a local street dog spay/neuter program introduced in 2002 by Fethiye Friends of Animals Association founder Perihan Agnelli.

The Fethiye Friends of Animals Association project,  after sterilizing 700 dogs in two years,  had not only markedly reduced any and all issues with dogs,  but also had the serendipity side effect of increasing European tourism to Fethye,  as word spread that dogs there no longer hounded visitors in hungry packs and that the small city had eradicated rabies.

Introduced neuter/return

The 2004 bill,  recounted Geybullayeva,  “banned killing free-range dogs unless dogs suffered from ‘incurable diseases and conditions such as terminal illness.’

“Local municipalities were tasked with caring for street dogs,  including neutering, vaccinating,  and rehabilitating them at community-managed shelters.  At the shelter, dogs were assigned identification numbers with tracking chips placed on their ears,”  Geybullayeva wrote.

The dogs were then returned to the streets.

“In 2012,”  Geybullayeva continued,  “the ruling Justice & Development Party proposed legislation ‘to remove stray animals from the streets and place them in sanctuaries outside towns and cities.’  The bill was tabled after mass protests.”

Erdogan sanctuary scheme already failed

Indeed,  as mayor of Istanbul before becoming prime minister of Turkey,  Erdogan had already endorsed the sanctuary idea,  with catastrophic consequences.

The sprawling Kemerburgaz Rubbish Dump Project outside Istanbul was closed in 1999, capped with earth,  vented to prevent build-ups of flammable gas,  fenced,  and designated The Natural Dog Shelter.

More than 1,000 dogs,  sterilized and fed with funding from British clothier Robert Smith,  were housed at the Natural Dog Shelter,  mostly eschewing rows of green-painted wooden doghouses built for them to live in dens they dig for themselves.

Toured in 2000 by hundreds of delegates to that year’s International Companion Animal Welfare Conference,  the Natural Dog Shelter looked like doggie heaven,  until Smith turned the management and fundraising over to local charities and municipal officials.

Corruption,  diversion of funds away from feeding the dogs,  and canine cannibalism followed,  reducing the Natural Dog Shelter to an internationally notorious canine hell that was closed and dismantled before the 2004 law took effect.

Banned sale of cats & dogs at pet shops

Resumed Geybullayeva,  “In 2018,  after securing a victory in the presidential election, Erdogan vowed to bolster animal protection laws.  In 2021, the Turkish parliament approved a new bill on animal rights.  The law banned the sale of all cats and dogs at pet shops,  classifying them as ‘living beings’ rather than commodities,  and made animal abuse punishable by up to four years in prison.”

Added Zaman,  “The law also criminalized sexual abuse of animals and mandated municipalities to allocate a decidedly microscopic share of their revenues to building and running shelters.”

Turkish Veterinary Association president Gülay Ertürk told Geybullayeva that only 294 of the 1,394 Turkish municipalities have shelters,  and many of those that do have shelters still do not have effective sterilization programs.

Pit bull ban

“Under the 2021 act,”  continued Geybullayeva, “pit bulls,  tosas, and other dangerous dog breeds were banned from being bred and sold. Those found guilty of violating the act were subject to fines.  The act also required pet owners to register their pets with digital ID.”

The provisions in the law pertaining to dangerous dogs were almost immediately reinforced.

“On December 7,  2021,”  Geybullayeva said, “the animal protection bill was amended, requiring owners of breeds classified as ‘dangerous’ to sterilize and register them with authorities before January 2022.”

“White Turks”

That requirement came just a little too late for a six-year-old girl who was killed by a pack of dogs in the city of Van,  and for a four-year-old girl who was mauled by two pit bulls in an attack captured on video on December 22,  2021 in the city of Gaziantep city.

“In a Christmas Day speech in Ankara,”  reported Borzou Daragahi,  Istanbul correspondent for The Independent, president Erdogan called on city officials across Turkey to round up often beloved stray dogs,  who are frequently allowed to roam free in public squares and streets,  and demanded that so-called ‘white Turks’ – shorthand for the country’s Europe-oriented secular elite – mind their pets.

“’White Turks,  take responsibility for your animals,’  he said in the speech.  ‘These dogs are the dogs of the wealthy.’

“Unlike the Aegean Sea region or the big cities,”  Daragahi explained,  “Gaziantep is known as a bastion of conservative supporters of Erdogan,  rather than white Turks.”

Court ruled pit bull owners should get the max for attack on girl

Meanwhile,  NewsTürkiye reported on December 30,  2021,  the Turkish Supreme Court of Appeals “overturned a trial concerning a pit bull attack,”  also on four-year-old girl, occurring in 2018 in the Develi district of Kayseri,  in Central Anatolian province.

“The court overturned the verdict to impose a fine of 500 Turkish Liras ($42) on the owner of the pit bull dog in a trial held at a local court,”  NewsTürkiye said.

“The court sent the case back to the local court, saying the owner of the dog should be punished for committing the crime of ‘negligent injury,’  which requires punishment at the highest limit.”

Five people were arrested in the case.  The pit bull owners,  “identified only by initials M.E. and S.K.,  who had previously been released pending trial,  were detained again,”  NewsTürkiye said,  “on the ground that new evidence had emerged.”

More attacks

Dog attacks continued despite the crackdown.  The pro-government Istanbul newspaper Daily Sabah on March 31,  2022 described “the death of a 10-year-old girl in the southern province of Antalya,  crushed by a moving truck while running away from dogs chasing her,”  and multiple fractures suffered by a 13-year-old boy who “was on a bicycle in the western province of Aydın,”  riding to school,  “when two stray dogs chased him.  Trying to flee,  he rammed into a car.

“In the northern province of Karabük,  A.K.,  a student,  was injured last month as she was fleeing dogs inside a complex of apartment buildings,”  Daily Sabah recalled.

Then “a 15-year-old girl narrowly escaped an attack by the same dogs in the complex by jumping off a high wall.  Her mother E.K. said she is traumatized to even think about the episode and how she rushed to her aid.  ‘She still can’t walk properly,’  she lamented.

“I thought they would bite off my face”

Also injured,  Daily Sabah recounted,  was “Çiğdem Dadandı,  a university student in the northwestern province of Kocaeli,  who “was walking on the campus when stray dogs attacked her and bit her leg.

“I fell on my back while running from them and they came at me.  I thought they would bite off my face,”  Dadandı told the Demirören News Agency.

Recounted a second female student of an incident a few days earlier,   “Around five dogs encircled me all of a sudden as I was walking.  I did nothing to intimidate them nor I was carrying something that would attract them,  like food.  They bit me first and I tripped.  I cannot forget the fear I had at that time.”

Such incidents,  increasingly routine in the U.S.,  are of heightened risk in Turkey because of the threat of rabies.  Lütfü Seray,  28,  of Şanliurfa,  for instance,  died of rabies in June 2023 after finding his lost Siberian husky,  who had become infected during several weeks at large.

“Problem does not exist in any developed country”

“We have a problem with stray dogs that does not exist in any developed country,”  asserted Erdogan shortly before setting the date for the June 24,  2024 election.

Erdogan pointed out that the World Health Organization lists Turkey as a “high risk” country for rabies,  and that dogs in the road led to 3,544 traffic accidents over the past five years,  killing 55 people and injuring more than 5,147.

“Past methods have not brought a solution,”  Erdogan said.

“This issue must be resolved as quickly as possible to make the streets safe for everyone,  especially children.”

The 70% solution vs. 50,000 pit bulls

Turkish Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Ibrahim Yumakli told media that “It is possible to control the proliferation of stray dogs by sterilizing 70% of them every year,”  but Turkey has about four million street dogs,  among a total dog population of as many as 10 million,  while the existing shelter system has only managed to sterilize an average of 260,000 dogs per year over the past five years — “far too few to make an impact,”  Yumakli said.

Among that dog population,  Istanbul economist and animal advocate Banu Aydin told Zaman,  are “at least 50,000 pit bulls in Istanbul alone,”  a city of 15.5 million humans.

“Turkish society is opposed to putting down strays”

But “A 2023 survey by the Ankara-based polling outfit Metropoll found that only 2.7% of respondents favored euthanization,”  recounted Zaman.

“Turkish society is opposed to putting down strays and knows that those who end up in government-run shelters either die of starvation or ill treatment,” Metropoll founder Ozer Sencar told Zaman.

“They also blame the government for failing to solve the problem because this government has been in power for 22 years and,  until 2019,  controlled the largest municipalities in the country,” Sencar added.

Green/left opposition

Leading the opposition to the Erdogan proposal to impound and kill stray dogs,  along with Fatih Erbakan of the Islamist New Welfare Party,  is Perihan Koca,  spokesperson for the green/left Peoples’ Equality & Democracy,  who at age 36 is among the youngest members of the Turkish Parliament.

“The bill talks about the mass killing of street animals,  claiming it will be done ‘painlessly and humanely,’”  Koca told Bianet, of Beyoğlu,  Istanbul.

“As with everything else, they [the Erdogan government] are trying to present this to the public with a religious veneer.  There is no explanation for this from the standpoint of science,  conscience,  or humanity,”  Koca charged.

“It is no coincidence that street animals are being used as a distraction,”  Koca said. “Have we solved the problems of hunger and poverty,  that we are now discussing animals?

“They want to institutionalize fascism”

“They want to institutionalize fascism,”  Koca alleged,  “and for that,  they need enmity towards animals,  women, LGBTQ,  and Kurds,”  an ethnic minority.

“On one hand,  they are making decisions of revenge,  and on the other,  they are carrying out acts of revenge,”  Koca charged.

Other opponents of the Erdogan scheme to kill street dogs include The Life for Law Initiative,  described by Bianet as “a coalition of activists,”  and the Union of Bar Associations of Turkey.

Said the Union of Bar Associations of Turkey,  in a prepared statement: “Euthanasia is another name for killing. If this law passes,  a massacre of animals unprecedented in our country’s history will be inevitable.

“Street dogs deserve better”

“Street animals, who have been a part of these lands for centuries and are described as ‘dear friends’ whenever possible,  deserve better than death warrants or isolation in death camp-like shelters.

“If the street animal population is indeed a problem,”   the Union of Bar Associations of Turkey said,  “the solution is a coordinated spaying and rehabilitation campaign by all relevant institutions.  Establishing spaying centers in neighborhoods and especially rural areas is necessary and sufficient.”

“As vets,  we will not kill healthy animals”

Agreed Haydar Özkan,  vice president of the Confederation for the Life Rights of Animals (HAYKONFED),  to the Gazete Duvar,  “The only solution is a sustainable sterilization campaign with the participation of all municipalities.  All municipalities should establish a sterilization center, employ a sufficient number of veterinarians and assistant personnel,  and initiate a simultaneous sustainable sterilization campaign in accordance with medical and ethical rules.”

Declared the Turkish Veterinarians Union in a joint statement,  “As veterinary doctors,  we will not perform euthanasias even if the [bill] is passed,”  because killing healthy animals “is neither ethical,  humane nor conscientious.”

“Even dangerous dogs should be housed for life”

Veterinarians Association president Gülay Ertürk went so far as to state that even “Dogs identified as dangerous by animal welfare volunteers should be housed in neighborhood care centers rather than killed.”

That idea is unlikely to get past Erdogan.

However,  concluded Zaman,  “The government may be scaling back its plans.  According to the daily Milliyet,   Justice & Development Party lawmakers who recently met with Erdogan want to tweak the draft bill to prioritize euthanizing rabid and aggressive dogs who cannot be ‘rehabilitated’ and are not adopted within a month of their internment.  Those deemed ‘harmless’ will be neutered and allowed to continue their lives.”

The Erdogan plan must be formally introduced as a legislative proposal and must be passed by Parliament before it takes effect.

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