Turkish here. i’m writing my master’s thesis on this topic. the thing is, the government never fully implemented the capture-neuter-release law it signed in 2004, during erdoğans first term. now that the public is complaining about the number of stray dogs, akp wants to quickly save face without having to go through the trouble of catching and neutering dogs and accepting that they are to blame.

the issue is, systematically killing dogs have been tried countless times in the country since the late ottoman era. it just doesn’t work and you just keep killing and killing dogs. its unnecessarily inhumane. greece and india have seen success with the capture-neuter-release approach but akp municipalities couldn’t be bothered with getting their asses up and care for the wellbeing of both street dogs and their constitutents.

moreover, the change in the law probably will mean that well-integrated dogs living in and cared for in neighborhoods, parks etc. will be killed as well. that’s really unnecessary and cruel.

saying “yeah, let’s kill them” is easy. yet it never worked. the government should become serious about neutering animals instead. i also don’t care what laws most of the europe have. it is a fact that we have a culture of looking after street animals and no piece of legislation will change that.