A Right to Roam?

Animal Friends of Turkey (AFOT) began in May 2018 and since then we have seen Turkish animal rights steadily changing for the worse. The pandemic hit all charities hard, but combined with an incomprehensible transport ban prohibiting charities from transporting dogs from Turkey to the UK, our job became almost impossible.

Just when we thought things couldn’t get worse, after a tragic attack on a 4 year old child by two pit bulls, December 2021 saw President Erdogan enforcing a new law to cruelly and callously round up ALL street dogs. These dogs were then dumped in the most horrific disease ridden, filthy shelters – death camps often quickly thrown up by local authorities, not fit for purpose – or taken to isolated areas without food or water and left to starve. There were mass burials of dogs who had been drugged and buried alive.

Turkey – such a beautiful country but it hides a terrible truth

The Turkish President was forced to retract the law due to public outcry as it was in fact against their own laws and the Muslim religion which says that dogs have “a right to roam” and that locals should feed and care for them, ironically making the streets a place of safety. Tragically, it was too late for hundreds and hundreds of dogs who had already been brutally slaughtered.

A “Banned Breed” list was implemented and owners of dogs on it were given just one month to have their dogs chipped, registered, neutered and muzzled, or face a fine in excess of £1000. This led to such confusion that many dogs were simply abandoned, all of which were being barbarically rounded up by the Turkish authorities. These dogs, having lost their homes and unable to leave the country, are destined only to a life of suffering in these Turkish death camps until they die.

Incredibly, dogs that remotely resemble a bull breed, even though not on the list, were also cast out due to the ignorance of their owners. Breeds that are cherished here in the UK. One such breed is the Boxer dog and there has been an influx of Boxers being found abandoned, terrified, starved, totally unprepared for life on the streets. Some have been used for breeding, in horrific condition having lived the whole of their lives in cruel breeding farms churning out litter after litter, now no longer needed due to lack of demand.

“The Peter Pan of Dogs…”

Boxer dogs are a gentle, playful breed, extremely loyal and good with children. Often described as the ‘Peter Pan’ of dogs, they live their whole lives as puppies, and are a breed particularly dear to a number of the AFOT committee. Since we began in 2018 AFOT had taken in just three Boxers. In one month we had to take in six who were severely emaciated, full of disease and the bitches had been repeatedly bred.

The Power Of One

At this time, our Patron, Samantha Hutchinson, launched a platform specifically to give small non-profit charities like ours a voice. Small charities who don’t get heard against the larger animal charities with their legions of staff and media machines behind them forcing them to the forefront. AFOT is run by a very small team of volunteers across two countries who do everything in their power, but it’s never enough. Sam’s platform would help us reach more people and we, along with a small number of animal charities were asked to the Power of One launch event at Church House in London, which raised over £40,000 for charities across the world.

Carol Holbrook, our Founder & Chair, gave a moving speech and we launched our own campaign to raise £6000 to help these six dogs which went onto the Power of One website. AFOT was the first of the campaigns launched that night to reach our target.

This money helped with the treatment of these dogs which as you will see below, is quite the journey which was to continue until they all found their loving forever homes. All that is but Nora. She sadly passed away but she was happy after living her last months knowing good food, love and kindness and the comfort of a warm bed in AFOT care.

From bad to worse…

Sadly though that wasn’t the end of this terrible situation in Turkey and in November and December 2022, Turkey’s President again reigned terror on not only stray dogs and cats, but also on those in Turkish municipal shelters.

Videos and photographs went viral of dogs being beaten to death with a shovel and clubs, dogs placed in bin trucks to be crushed alive, mass poisonings, sickeningly cruel round ups of street animals being dragged and inhumanely manhandled. Images of dogs actually eating one another due to starvation.

These horrors were finally seen worldwide and activists rallied with protests some 25,000 strong over the Christmas of 2022 with more scheduled during 2023, however these didn’t see an end to the slaughter with social media reporting more and more atrocities daily.

This is an unending situation beyond our control and we can only be there to pick up the pieces of those broken souls who survive.

Things have never been worse than they currently are in Turkey. Please adopt a Turkish dog – they need you!