DEM-run municipality had rounded up stray dogs: Apology statement issued

The bill regarding stray animals was accepted in the TBMM General Assembly.

In Diyarbakır, the Silvan district, under DEM Party administration, shared images on social media of them rounding up stray dogs.

In the statement made alongside the photos, it was said, "Stray dogs have been collected. The number of stray dogs, which has been increasing in the district center, has been collected by our municipality teams and placed in the shelter. Our municipality teams continue to collect the stray dogs, whose numbers are increasing in the district center, by shooting them with tranquilizer darts upon the complaints of citizens. The dogs collected by the teams throughout the district center were taken to the shelter. The dogs placed in the shelter were spayed/neutered and vaccinated." 

That post, made from the municipality's official X account, was removed following the major backlash it received. 

STATEMENT FROM THE CO-MAYORS

Following the incident becoming a matter of public debate, a new statement was issued under the signatures of Silvan Municipality co-mayors Sevim Biçici and Kadri Esen. In the statement, an apology was offered regarding the language used and the manner in which the animals were collected, stating, "We believe the reaction developed against our municipality following our social media post in question is an unfair reaction. However, the practice carried out is a routine practice, and we have been continuing it since the day we took office. Upon complaints reaching us from citizens, we collect the dogs from where they are, spay/neuter them in our own shelter, and after keeping them for a certain period, we release them back to where we found them. We do not release those that are sick or in poor condition; we treat and feed them in the shelter. We also acknowledge this; the method our personnel used to catch the dogs and the language we used in the post were poor, and we apologize for this mistreatment and the misunderstanding. Let us also state this: as a party, we provided the strongest opposition to the stray animal law, and we will be the strongest defenders of the right to life for stray animals. We will share images from our shelter shortly and inform the public in detail about the matter." 

Here is the post deleted from the municipality's account: 

News Source: 12punto