A committee of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) approved late Tuesday amendments to a law safeguarding animal welfare after three days of tense debates. Colloquially known as the "stray animals bill," the proposal by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) pitted those seeking to end attacks by feral dogs that cost lives and animal rights activists who claimed Türkiye's canine population would be exposed to a mass culling.

President and AK Party Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan defended the bill while lashing out at the opposition for exploiting the issue. In a speech on Wednesday, Erdoğan said the bill helps Türkiye to keep streets safer for people amid growing dog attacks.

The 17-article bill, which will now be discussed at the Parliament's General Assembly, includes an article that calls for "euthanasia" for dogs that are in pain, terminally ill, posing a public health risk or too aggressive to be controlled. Though the term was removed in the final draft of the bill, it sparked an outcry over what the bill's critics claimed was a "massacre" of dogs across the country.

The bill is expected to be passed by Parliament, where the AK Party wields the majority together with its ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), whose leader said on Tuesday that the Turkish nation is a "friend" of dogs and they would oppose any "wrongs" targeting them. AK Party spokesperson Ömer Çelik on Tuesday lamented that the critics portrayed the bill as something that would pave the way for "massacres." "This is a matter hurting people. Children are attacked, and elderly people are attacked. It is unfair to say that this is a bill for massacres. This is a bill for which we sought input from everyone. We cannot accept (dog) attacks on people," he said.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, a dog owner himself, has pointed out the risk of stray dogs, estimated to be around 4 million, in a speech in May. He also warned about the escalating risk of rabies, something that pushed Britain to issue a travel advisory against Türkiye. The president, who is the architect of two unprecedented animal welfare bills enacted in 2004 and 2021, has acknowledged that they failed to tackle the stray dog issue through the "catch-neuter-release" method and that a better solution is needed.

Erdoğan reiterated the risk in a speech on Wednesday. As he addressed the parliamentarians at his party's group meeting, he said the nation expected a "solution" to the issue. The president said this was a matter that could not be ignored just because the opposition and some media outlets opposed it. "We only hear the expectation of our nation. Though some people tend to ignore it, Türkiye has a stray dog issue. We have a stray dog population you cannot see anywhere else in the world. These stray dogs attack children, people in general and other animals. They cause traffic accidents," Erdoğan stated.

Along with direct attacks on humans, dogs are blamed for several deadly traffic accidents where drivers steer off the roads to avoid hitting canines suddenly jumping off the roads. The president also highlighted a rising number of rabies cases and related travel advisories by some countries for travelers to Türkiye.

"It is going out of hand as long as you do not intervene. Our nation wants safer streets. Our children want to go out freely. We cannot remain silent to these expectations," he said.

The president lashed out at the opposition and some groups trying to portray the government and lawmakers as perpetrators of animal cruelty. "Nobody can teach us a lesson in kindness (to animals). Nobody can call to listen to our conscience, especially those not raising their voice against victims of a terrorist group (PKK), against the killing of 16,000 innocent children in Gaza," Erdoğan stated.

He pointed out the act of an opposition lawmaker "lacking in character" who confronted the parents of victims of dog attacks during the debate at the parliamentary committee. "Sympathy is the last word such a person should utter on this matter." Erdoğan said the bill aims to keep both humans and animals alive and said he hoped the bill would be approved before the parliamentary recess.

He stated that the bill was "just a beginning" to tackle the issue. The bill mandates municipalities collect the stray dogs and house them in shelters where they would be neutered and spayed. Though it does not directly cite "euthanasia," it calls for the implementation of an existing article in Turkish laws for euthanizing feral dogs under the supervision of a vet. Municipalities would also be required to build dog shelters or improve conditions in existing shelters by 2028. Mayors who fail to meet their responsibilities in controlling stray dogs would face imprisonment ranging from six months to two years. Additionally, fines imposed on people who abandon their pets would be raised from TL 2,000 ($60) to TL 60,000 ($1,800). He called upon "celebrities, associations and journalists who raised an outcry in the past week" to join their "stray dog adoption" campaign to keep the dogs off the streets.

Murat Pınar, who heads an association that has campaigned for measures to keep the streets safe from stray dogs, says at least 75 people, including 44 children, have been killed as a result of attacks or traffic accidents caused by dogs since 2022 – the year his nine-year-old daughter, Mahra, was run over by a truck after she fled from two aggressive dogs.

Pınar's "Safe Streets and Defense of the Right to Life Association" calls for removing all strays from the streets and wants the legislation to pass before the summer recess in August. On the first day of the debate last week, Mahra’s mother brandished her daughter's shoe, alleging that opposition lawmakers prioritize the lives of dogs over those of children.

Dogs and cats are ubiquitous on Turkish streets and often fed by locals, leading to a rise in their population. Stray dogs have been mostly harmless until the past few years, when they started wandering in packs, occasionally chasing away people.