Turkish prosecutors have launched an investigation into a famous actress who criticized the lawmakers who backed a law that is criticized for paving way for the mass killing of stray dogs in the country, Turkish Minute reported, citing the pro-government Sabah daily reported.
Actress Berna Laçin is being investigated on allegations of publicly insulting the Turkish parliament due to a comment she made on X this week about a photo of the lawmakers who supported the law on stray dogs.
Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) makes it illegal to insult Turkey, the Turkish nation or Turkish government institutions.
“You will be remembered with shame. You are damned,” Laçin wrote as she posted photos of the lawmakers posing together after the bill was passed by parliament on Tuesday.
The legislation, introduced by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), garnered the support of 275 lawmakers, all from the AKP and its far-right ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), while 224 others voted against it.
The law went into effect after it was signed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and published in the Official Gazette on Friday.
The controversial law, which led to days-long protests for making the mass killing of stray dogs possible, requires municipalities to round up stray dogs and put them into shelters, and permitting aggressive or ill animals to be euthanized. The law mandates shelter improvements by 2028 and threatens mayors with prison time if they don’t enforce the law.
Critics says stray dogs, whose population is estimated to be 4 million, will be doomed to die due to the poor conditions in overcrowded shelters and claim healthy dogs will also be killed en masse under the pretext of displaying aggressive behavior or appearing to be ill.
Animal rights campaigners want the withdrawal of the law and suggest a mass sterilization campaign instead to solve the stray dog problem.
