On April 4, World Stray Animals Day, following the 2024 local elections, we want to share our open call and invitation to the Turkish Grand National Assembly, local governments, media, universities and academics, artists, bar associations and other rights defenders in Türkiye
As the Law for Life Initiative (Yaşam İçin Yasa İnisiyatifi), this call of ours, on April 4th World Stray Animals Day, primarily aims to raise awareness about the violations of the rights of animals living in streets and the great danger that awaits them after the local elections in Türkiye, as well as to present a road map “for an equal, fair, liveable world for all species” and to solidarize with all rights defenders who stand for justice to walk together on this path.
The dogs with whom we have shared our streets in these lands for centuries have been turned into a political target in Türkiye, while existing municipalities have been carrying out illegal roundups and massacres for so long, and parties such as the YRP and BBP have made illegal pre-election promises, announcing that they will not leave a single dog on the streets, that they will “cull” them, that is, they will openly kill them. Even though a large segment of the society objected, no legal action was taken against these crimes.
Now everyone needs to unite and stand against these public announcements of massacre. Especially cities such as Yozgat, Şanlıurfa, won by YRP, and Sivas, taken by BBP, and other municipalities won by these parties, should be inspected by bar associations and animal protection volunteers, every illegal practice should be prevented, evidence of crime should be delivered to bar associations and the legal process should be initiated.
But unfortunately, rights violations are not limited to the discourse and practices of these reactionary parties. Some CHP municipalities also violate their party’s bylaws and general stance during the election process and openly commit crimes with unlawful roundups/culling; the violence practiced by municipalities such as Ankara Metropolitan Municipality, Bilecik and Aydın should be stopped immediately, and these municipalities should open their doors to rights defenders and volunteers, and implement projects with scientific solution.
We now present a roadmap to prevent institutionalized violence against animals living in streets and to stop the spiral of violence created by murderers and rapists who take courage from this impunity. Therefore we make an open call for solidarity on this path:
- CALL TO THE TURKISH PARLIAMENT: While the current laws and judicial system are incapable of protecting animals, the draft law jointly and secretly prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change and the Ministry of Justice means “massacre and genocide” for animals living in streets. It makes it impossible to control the population. We invite all MPs to vote against this law and to be “pro-life”. We want the solidarity formed with rights defenders and volunteers in 2019 and 2021 to be re-established and this time to implement the scientific solution by complying with the decisions taken. It is clear that under conditions where puppy mills and “pet production” is not banned, the population can never be controlled, dogs living on the streets will be constantly collected and imprisoned, or an endless cycle of violence will continue in different ways: especially pet breeding/reproduction should be stopped completely and a simultaneous sterilization/spaying campaign should be provided under medical and ethical conditions.
2. CALL TO LOCAL GOVERNMENTS: From this day on, all local governments must urgently hold Provincial Animal Board meetings and implement sterilization projects, taking into account the subjective conditions of the region, together with local volunteers, rights advocates and all local government components.
3. CALL TO THE MEDIA: The media, which has been the spokesperson of hate politics and violence against dogs with unethical headlines such as “stray dog terror”, should know that their trustworthiness has been shaken because their false news has been exposed. Hate speech targeting coexistence has no place in the culture of this geography. The calls made by rights defenders and millions of animal lovers before the local elections were clearly responded to in the ballot box results, and the election policies of the government and its small partners targeting animals were a major factor in their defeat. We now call on the mainstream media to accept that living together with animals in the streets is one of the indispensable values of this society and to an ethical media approach, to give up being the mouthpieces of politicians and a handful of raving criminals who are trying to gain votes under the guidance of cults and via initiating tenders for “immense animal shelters”. “Animal rights violations” must be included in the main news bulletins, and “public spots” (PSA videos) regarding animal rights must be broadcast on all channels and publicly viewable media platforms, as stated in the law.
4. CALL TO UNIVERSITIES AND ACADEMICS: The political basis of animal rights should be provided through academic studies, in this context, theoretical knowledge should be delivered to large masses through panels and symposiums, and at the same time, university students and academics should be the practical representation of rights defense.
5. CALL TO ARTISTS: All artists with a rights-based approach who can influence large masses to take a stand for justice should raise awareness on this issue by bringing animal rights to the agenda in their personal media accounts and in various events, and should not remain silent about rights violations.
6. CALL TO BAR ASSOCIATIONS: It is clear that the Animal Protection Law No. 5199 does not protect the rights of “all” animals. While this is a problem in itself, the current law is not even implemented in cases of violence against species such as cats and dogs that it claims to protect. We need more lawyers to defend the rights of animals in these days when judges send the perpetrators back to the society with unacceptable sentences, even in cases of “flagrante delicto”. We wake up every day learning that there is another murderer and rapist walking free among us, and we do not accept that almost all of them are rewarded with the policy of impunity. For this reason, there should be an “Animal Rights Commission” in the bar association of every province. This commission should consist of lawyers who know the animal/environmental laws and care about animals, and should conduct public studies so that they can be reached in case of any violation.
7. CALL TO OTHER RIGHTS-BASED ACTIVIST GROUPS: The world will not be a fair place unless we can provide “FREEDOM TO PEOPLE, ANIMALS, AND THE EARTH”. Unfortunately, the anthropocentric/speciesist ideology has caused rights defenders fighting in different fields to ignore this reality. However, there is also a growing field of integrated struggle in our country. While the anti-speciesist movement provides a strong political ground in the struggle against dangerous ideologies such as sexism, racism and ableism, it can also offer the most coherent policies to the ecology movement. All forms of violence and domination are based on a common foundation: the idea that some lives are superior to others. A common struggle against all discourses and actions that reproduce this idea is necessary. For this reason, we invite all rights defenders who struggle in different fields, such as the women’s movement, ecology movement, labor movement, LGBTI+ movement, to solidarity with animals, with us.
If you say “I’m in” to our open call:
e-mail: yasamicinyasa@gmail.com
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Law for Life Initiative (Yaşam İçin Yasa İnisiyatifi)
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