Özgür Özel: We Will Take the Stray Animals Law to the Constitutional Court

Özgür Özel, Chairman of the Republican People's Party (CHP) of Turkey, announced that they will take the amendment to the Animal Protection Law, which includes regulations regarding stray animals, to the Constitutional Court. Özel said, "This is already our duty. We will do this as soon as possible and with a request for a stay of execution."

Responding to questions from the press in the parliament's lobby after the law proposal on stray animals was passed by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Özel emphasized that the law is clearly unconstitutional and does not defend the right to life. Therefore, they will evaluate the process related to the Constitutional Court.

Özel explained, "The right to a healthy environment is necessary for people. Especially considering that vaccinated stray dogs act as a barrier between wild and urban life against diseases such as rabies, a very significant risk has been taken for public and community health. We will evaluate all of this and take the law to the Constitutional Court. This is already our duty. We will do this as soon as possible and with a request for a stay of execution."

Özel criticized the Constitutional Court for not implementing the stay of execution decision in all their applications over the past four and a half years, expressing hope that the Court will reverse this trend.

Thanking everyone who objected to the law, especially opposition MPs and the CHP group, Özel said:

"Our group has been defending what they believe to be right and preventing wrongs with incredible performance for the past two and a half months. If it weren't for the superior efforts and determination of the CHP group, euthanasia would have been passed in this law. The opposition combined with societal sensitivity led to many reversals. Although the entirety of the law is still very dangerous, the initial version was directly a massacre law. Significant steps back were taken thanks to the great efforts of the opposition and our group. This must be acknowledged."

"WE WILL NOT FOLLOW THE LAW'S COVERT INSTRUCTIONS"

Özel stated that CHP municipalities would resist the "covert call" of the law, which essentially says "you cannot solve this, if you cannot solve it, you are penalized, come and do the massacre," and that they would never comply with these covert instructions. He said:

"In the next phase, we will do everything we can to build more shelters, vaccinate, neuter, and facilitate adoption. However, it is impossible to fully meet this burden with the municipal power and such limited resources. From now on, every negative outcome will be the responsibility of today's irresponsible legislative understanding. But our municipalities will continue to do what is necessary, as they have done so far."

Özel announced that the CHP group would hold a closed meeting to thank the MPs and briefly evaluate the summer term work. He added, "MPs do not have a holiday; they have summer term work. We will make a brief assessment regarding the summer term work."