Minister Yumaklı speaks out after dog massacres: 'You are obligated to perform your public duty'

Following the passage of the controversial stray animal law through Parliament, dozens of dogs were killed first in Niğde and then in the Altındağ district of Ankara. 

Agriculture Minister Yumaklı, in a statement made days later, while saying "Calling this a massacre law is a denial of the truth," stated the following:

"There should be no stray animals or dogs on the streets.

The fact that the World Health Organization has included Turkey among countries with a rabies risk necessitated a solution for all of this.

I spoke with our Altındağ Mayor. He said, 'They made the situation such that I received a report from somewhere. The animals were involved in an accident, and I am hesitant to go and retrieve them.'

You are obligated to perform your public duty. You do not have the chance or the right to say, 'I am not implementing this at my own discretion'.

Who would want their child to contract a disease from a group of animals that stayed there all night or from the waste left behind when they take their child to the park?"

CHP MUNICIPALITIES WILL NOT IMPLEMENT IT

CHP leader Özgür Özel, in a statement he made recently regarding the animal law, had said, "This legislative proposal postpones the obligation to build shelters until 2028. This means: 'There is no money. The responsibility is yours. The authority is yours. The animals are on the streets. Slaughter them.' CHP municipalities will certainly not do this. But many mayors will emerge who will. There are ambiguous phrases. It says, 'if public safety is under threat'."