Law passed

Turkey decides to kill street dogs

(Bild: AP)

Turkey's parliament has voted in favor of a controversial article in the law on the killing of street dogs deemed to be sick or aggressive. On Monday, the majority of MPs in Ankara approved the fifth of 17 articles of a law whose deliberations began on Sunday. The section provides for the killing of street dogs that "pose a danger to the life and health of humans and animals".

Dogs with "uncontrollable negative behavior and those with an infectious or incurable disease" are also to be killed. The entire law could be passed in the coming days. Animal rights activists fear that a large-scale campaign to kill street dogs is now imminent.

Protests against the law
The Turkish opposition, which represents the mayors in the capital Ankara and in the metropolis of Istanbul, has announced that it will not implement the new regulation if it is passed by parliament. On Sunday, opposition MPs demonstrated in parliament against the bill, which also provides for a campaign to sterilize street dogs, by putting on white gloves soaked in fake blood.

There were several protests against the controversial bill.

(Bild: AFP)

The Turkish government defends the new regulation by citing an increase in attacks by street dogs and cases of rabies among the stray animals. "Our people want safe streets," declared head of state Recep Tayyip Erdogan. His Islamic-conservative AKP party and its allies have a majority in parliament.

Four million stray dogs
At the end of May, Erdogan emphasized that there are around four million stray dogs in Turkey - more than in any other developed country in the world. However, there have been repeated protest rallies against the planned killing of stray dogs in recent weeks.

The discussions also brought to mind a campaign against street dogs in the Ottoman Empire. In 1910, tens of thousands of stray dogs were captured in Istanbul and taken to a deserted island in the Sea of Marmara. The dogs ate each other there out of hunger and most of the animals eventually starved to death.