By Deniz Tapkan Cengiz
Zoologist, animal photojournalist
İstanbul, Türkiye
If you follow news about animals worldwide, you must have come across the change in the practice of street animals in my country, Turkey, on social media. Tragically, in the summer of 2024, the government (the same government for 20 years) decided to change the law on street animals and brought this change to the parliament with hasty commission meetings without consulting any expert on the subject. The Turkish Medical Association, the Turkish Veterinary Association, and the Turkish Psychologists Association made statements one after another about how inappropriately the process was being managed and how it could traumatize society. The public began to protest and came together in assembly areas. However, government officials paid no attention to anyone.
Photos by Deniz Tapkan Cengiz/We Animals
The previous law covered the policy of “neuter - vaccinate - let live” in place. The new law, on the other hand, included the collection of cats and dogs, putting them into government-run shelters for a certain period, and the killing of those not adopted after a while. Sound familiar? How is this managed in your country? Are there dogs and cats on your street or in your neighborhood that you can pet and bond with every day?
Last winter, I watched a Hollywood movie about shelters and animal adoption. The lead role was a dog. If this dog was not adopted, he would be killed in 3 days. He had 3 days left. In other words, this practice has become so normalized in America that it can be the subject of movies. It had a small shock effect on me. The biggest argument of those who want to change the law and reduce the number of animals was, unfortunately, “taking America and Europe as an example, that we should act like Western civilized countries and clean the streets of cats and dogs. What are we, India?”
Photos by Deniz Tapkan Cengiz/We Animals
While we were continuing our “withdraw the law” actions, the law came to the parliament. And the law passed the parliament. I don’t want to tire you with political details, but there is a very important issue that needs to be connected here. While we were living happily with our street animals, why do you think the government suddenly wanted such a change and enacted it at lightning speed? A short while ago, March 31, 2024, there were local elections in our country, namely municipal elections. And in these elections, the opposition party won most of the country for the first time in many years. Everyone was shocked. And of course, this showed the society that the opposition could win the presidential election in the future. The stressed government used the lives of animals as political material and made changes to the issue of animals living on the streets, which is a huge workload in municipalities. Although the process of collecting all animals and taking them to shelters was quickly initiated, there are no shelters in many municipalities. In addition, if the government is talking about killing, you can guess that the opposition is talking about keeping them alive. Therefore, they do not want to implement the law, but the law includes penal sanctions up to the imprisonment of mayors for those who do not implement it.
Photos by Deniz Tapkan Cengiz/We Animals
I will leave the political part of the issue here with a final sentence about politics. What kind of leader or administration do you think could make such a change that would cause such hell for animals and trauma for society? Of course, a dictatorial regime. During the Occupy Gezi (2013) in Turkey, I was fired from my job without compensation because I wrote “dictator” in the tweets I posted, and a lawsuit was filed against me for “insulting the state officials,” and I am facing a prison sentence. The reason I gave this detail was to reveal Turkey’s politics and the current state it has reached.
Now let’s talk about what is happening on the streets. We are a society that has been living happily with animals on the streets for many years. This is in our culture. So much so that in Istanbul, where I live, seagulls and hedgehogs also eat cat food. There are people and institutions that have taken the lives of animals as their concern and are helping animals while also improving society. I believe that in addition to the bad news spreading from our country about animals, there are many more good people working for animals. I want to believe. I will give you examples of this here.
Citizens of Turkey Continue To Fight on Behalf of Street Animals
First, protests against the law and demanding the withdrawal of the law are still ongoing. The opposition party submitted a proposal to the Constitutional Court to withdraw the law. (There is little hope since the president appointed the Constitutional Court panel.)
In the meantime, neighborhoods have started to organize. In some neighborhoods, they put collars on animals living on the streets, so that they appear to have guardians. In addition, people in the neighborhood have set up WhatsApp groups so that they can easily communicate with each other. Because when the municipality comes to collect animals, it is necessary to come together immediately and oppose them.
Shopkeepers usually share their shops with a cat in Istanbul. When the morning comes and the shop opens, many cats wake up and stand at the door of the shop to eat. The shopkeepers in question hung a joint sign on the shop windows because they were worried about these animals they lived with. The poster reads, “All cats and dogs living in this neighborhood are protected by the neighborhood! They are not without guardians! They cannot be touched!”
Photos by Deniz Tapkan Cengiz
The nonprofit organization called Dört Ayaklı Şehir, which actively worked during this process, played a major role in neighborhood organizations, animal adoption efforts, fundraising, and revealing the massacres. You can follow the agenda on the subject from its Instagram account @dortayaklisehir.
An exhibition of photographs of animals living on the streets affiliated with IFSAK, the oldest photography association established in Istanbul, was organized, and the income from the exhibition was donated to private shelters.
This year’s “Which Human Rights? Film Festival “will reach a wider audience with the main theme of animal rights. In the forum to be held at the festival, all components of the struggle against the massacre law will be discussed, as well as stating that the law is not legitimate.
Citizens started to keep watch in front of the Gebze and Ümraniye Municipality shelters because dead dogs and cats were found in these shelters. And they did not allow a new animal to be brought into the shelter.
Of course, there are many more actions and movements on the subject that I have not seen and have no information about. Unfortunately, I think that this sharp turn in our country is dragging some of us off the cliff while creating awareness in others who continue on their way. Even opposition municipalities that have not cared about animals living on the streets so far have started to work for their lives and continue to defend their right to life. People who have never thought about the lives of animals are making new connections; for example, they realize that violence against women and children is strongly related to violence against animals. Maybe it leads some people to become aware of animal exploitation in their personal lives and inspires them to go vegan.
There is a topic that I have not touched on here but will only briefly mention because it would be long and detailed if I did. Of course, life on the street is not easy for animals. Because being stuck in the middle of urbanization, crossing the road where cars pass, looking for food and not even being able to find it, etc., is not an easy life. But the solution to this is not to kill animals en masse. Moreover, living in metropolises like Istanbul is difficult even for humans. The solution is to transform the cities that we have created that are difficult to live in into more livable places. And to reanalyze the sick perspective of “continuous growth” in terms of cities and economies.
As an activist who has been living vegan for 10 years and fighting for the right to life of farmed animals, of course what is happening in my country makes me very sad and can sometimes paralyze me. However, since I believe that every individual's life is valuable, I will continue to care about animals, see them and make their lives easier. Now I must go down to the garden and feed our beautiful cats.
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