President Erdoğan has ordered all stray dogs to be captured and thrown into government shelters.  The Animal Rights Monitoring Committee (HAKİM) Coordinator Fatma Biltekin told our agency what should be done when the issue of “stray animal” turns into a slaughter of stray animals by Erdoğan's order.

ELİF AKGÜL

Istanbul- After a Pit Bull dog attacked a four-year-old girl in Antep, AKP Leader and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ordered all stray animals to be captured and thrown into government shelters. After this order, many municipalities across Turkey begin to capture stray animals by force.

Animal rights defenders and animals’ lovers posted footage showing how stray animals were shot, burned, and tortured from many cities of Turkey. Animal rights defenders have demanded this issue be solved for years. They have said that stray animals are innocent but irresponsible and violent animal owners and municipalities that don’t fulfill their duties are responsible for the attacks of stray animals in Turkey.

The Animal Rights Monitoring Committee (HAKİM) Coordinator Fatma Biltekin spoke to NuJINHA about the current discussions on stray animals in Turkey. “Stray animals are innocent. The government that doesn’t fix animals and the municipalities that don’t fulfill their duty are responsible for the current ‘stray animal problem’.”

“Erdoğan’s order is against the law”

Pointing out that Erdoğan’s order “to capture stray animals” is against the law, Fatma Biltekin underlined that the method of municipalities to capture stray animals is against article 6 of the current Animal Protection Law saying “Animals that have been sterilized, vaccinated and rehabilitated will be registered and released into the environment that they were taken from.”

“We know that many municipalities, which don’t have a temporary care facility for animals, capture the animals. Erdoğan claimed that the white (elite) Turks look after the animals, the rich people look after animals. I can easily say that volunteers, who try to protect animals, are in debt because they try to keep stray animals alive with their own means. Dogs were the first animal to be domesticated by humans. We have lived with dogs for 12 thousand years. We learned how to look after them from our parents, grandparents. We know that all these discussions are actually an effort to polarize society and change the agenda. These discussions will cause the deaths of animals,” Fatma Biltekin told us.

Stating that there are temporary care facilities in Turkey but not animals’ shelters, Fatma Biltekin said, “We know that the place of stray animals is not temporary care facilities. These facilities are death and isolation camps for the stray animals.”

“Animals are not dangerous but the ones who raise them are dangerous”

Stating that the expression “dangerous race” is not scientific and there is no research on it, Fatma Biltekin said, “We demand people who will take care of these animals be trained, be controlled and not be allowed the animals used in fights. If we want to solve the issue of stray animals, we should end breeding. We have realized in the amended law that even if the sale of cats and dogs in pet shops ends, the sale of cats and dogs in breeding farms will not end. I mean that these animals are not dangerous but the ones who raise these animals are dangerous. They should be punished not animals.”

Emphasizing that the reason for the increasing population of stray animals is the municipalities, Fatma Biltekin said, “There are so many stray animals because the municipalities, which are responsible to fix stray animals, have taken animals and leave them on the mountains. That’s why the population of stray animals is increasing. We have been reminding municipalities of their duties for years. We tell them, ‘don’t leave animals on the mountains, and don’t leave them to die in temporary care facilities.’ But this problem becomes a deepening problem because the municipalities have carried out this practice since 2014. Now, they try to capture stray animals because Erdoğan ordered it. They have had nothing to solve this problem for 17 years. Now, they try to take stray animals to temporary care facilities altogether. Many municipalities, which don’t have a temporary care facility for animals, have captured the animals. We don’t know where they take these animals. We cannot solve this problem in a day, we need years. The municipalities should work with volunteers to solve this problem. Animals’ shelters and huts should be built for stray animals. Children and adults should be trained on how to raise animals. If we had done these before, we wouldn’t face such a problem now.”