İstanbul Governor Davut Gül has warned municipalities that they must fully enforce Turkey’s controversial stray dog law, saying the city would not allow stray dogs to remain on the streets, Turkish Minute reported.
Gül said in a statement on X on Monday that bringing stray animals under control was “not a choice but a clear necessity,” while also rejecting what he called extreme approaches to the problem.
“Neither mass culling nor strays roaming freely or a lack of control can be accepted,” he said.
The warning comes amid an intensified nationwide campaign to round up stray dogs under a 2024 law that requires municipalities to put them in shelters, a measure animal rights groups and opposition politicians say could pave the way for mass killing due to limited shelter capacity and weak oversight.
The governor said the law requires that stray animals be caught, neutered and kept in shelters under appropriate conditions, adding that 46 percent of İstanbul’s stray animals had already been collected and that the rest would also be taken off the streets.
“There will not be a single stray dog on the streets,” Gül said.
His remarks appeared aimed in part at municipalities, which are legally responsible for carrying out the collection process but have faced criticism from both the government and animal rights advocates, the former for alleged delays, the latter for the risk of overcrowded shelters and mistreatment.
Gül said the responsibility belonged to municipalities and warned that they must act “immediately and completely,” adding that “negligence and delay will absolutely not be tolerated.”
He also said people who want to adopt the animals would be allowed to do so only if they keep them in their homes or gardens. The breeding, sale and adoption of banned breeds remain prohibited by law, he added.
The controversial 2024 legislation, backed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its ally, the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), allows euthanasia for dogs deemed dangerous, terminally ill or unfit for adoption.
Animal rights groups and the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) called the measure a “massacre law,” claiming that it could pave the way for mass killing and cannot be implemented humanely because Turkey lacks sufficient shelter capacity and effective oversight.
Meanwhile, an Interior Ministry adviser told parliament in April that Turkey had rounded up 78 percent of its stray dog population as part of the nationwide campaign, while denying allegations that animals were being killed outside the limits set by law.
Ahmet Yavuz Karaca, an adviser to the interior minister, told the parliamentary Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Affairs Committee that about 1.2 million stray dogs had been caught across the country.
He said the government now estimates Turkey’s stray dog population at about 1.25 million, far below earlier public estimates of 4 million.
The government says the law is necessary to address public safety concerns, particularly after reports of dog attacks, traffic accidents and rabies risk.
Animal rights advocates, however, say the authorities should focus on mass sterilization, vaccination, adoption and stronger municipal services rather than large-scale collection campaigns that could leave animals confined in overcrowded or poorly monitored shelters.
