ZEYNEP AKGÜL

Ankara- Violence against animals is one of the facts that cannot be covered up. The amendment of the Animal Protection Law No. 5199 has been discussed since 2011. The most basic demand of the NGOs working on animal rights is the crimes against animals to be included in the Turkish Criminal Code (TCK). For example, the definition of rape of animals is written neither in the Turkish Penal Code nor in the Animal Protection Law. In addition, legislation divides animals into animals 'having owner' and 'having no owner'. If an animal has no owner, an administrative fine is imposed on the perpetrator of rape.  If an animal having an “owner” is raped, a case can be opened against the perpetrator for “Damaging to Property.”

We talked to Animal Rights Federation (HAYTAP) Ankara Representative Pelin Sayılgan about the distinction between 'having owner' and 'having no owner', the Animal Rights Law, which hasn’t been enacted for 16 years.

What changes are there in the Animal Rights Law?

There is no draft law prepared yet. Only a research commission was founded, and this commission has summited several recommendations. We don’t know whether something will be changed or not, whether the decisions of this commission will be included in the new law or not because we have been going through the same process for 16 years.

What are these recommendations?

There are many recommendations such as changing the name of the Animal Protection Law to "Animal Rights Law"; introducing definitions such as "pet, wild animal, city animal, farm animal" in the classification of animals; determining the number of animals living in streets; initiating the sterilization of animals, allocating the necessary budget and personnel for this; the crimes against animals to be included in the Criminal Code and many more.

Hunting is a crime, not a sport

One another recommendation is to take measures to prevent illegal poaching. I think pointing a gun at animals is not a sport; it is a crime, immorality. Hunting should be completely prohibited.

NGOs demand the name of the Animal Protection Law No. 5199 to be changed to "Animal Rights Law". Why?

Right means the interest protected by the legal system. There is no law without rights. In order to prevent violence against animals, it is necessary to accept that animals have rights. If we share the world with animals, if we do not define ourselves as masters of the world, we must accept that animals have rights just like us. That's why we demand the name of the law to be changed.