In Altındağ, Ankara, video footage has emerged of many dogs who had been buried in a mass grave, sparking outrage from animal rights activists.
DEM Party MP for Mersin, Perihan Koca, had alleged that mass animal graves had been opened in Altındağ, a municipality of Turkey’s Ankara, and that dogs had been slaughtered, following similar scenes in Niğde Municipality.
Video footage shared on Telegram by Kurdish Front News shows animal rights activists and locals discovering the scene. The locals reported that the smell of dead animals was discernible from far away, and confirmed the presence of bodies of dogs that had been slaughtered and buried.
After the discovery, the Altındağ Municipality Veterinary Affairs Director was taken to the police station and questioned. However, the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality’s social media account made a statement, saying, “We would like to announce to the public that the shelter does not belong to Ankara Metropolitan Municipality and that we will follow up on this massacre.”
The mass grave comes after the Turkish parliament passed a controversial law permitting the euthanasia of stray dogs on 30 July, following 28 hours of debate. The bill, supported by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) coalition, was approved with 275 votes in favour and 224 against.
“With this proposal, the AKP is essentially saying ‘street dogs will either die or be killed.’ This article means death! You want to kill animals! You won’t be able to look your children in the eye,” Republican People’s Party (CHP) MP Deniz Yavuzyılmaz had said in response to the bill.
While the proposal was being debated, thousands of animal rights activists took to the streets in major cities in Turkey, denouncing the new law as a massacre.
Turkey’s Agriculture and Forestry Minister, İbrahim Yumaklı, had previously warned that municipal mayors refusing to comply with the proposed “mass euthanasia” legislation for stray dogs could face prison sentences of six months to two years.
