Click to read the article in Turkish
Sapanca Chief Public Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation into the murder of the puppy in the province of Sakarya. The digger operator İ.M., who was taken into custody and released after giving his deposition on June 16, was arrested yesterday (June 17).
People who went to the neighborhood of Yüzevler in the district of Sapanca in Sakarya to feed the dogs in the area found a puppy, whose tail and paws were cut and which was abandoned in the woods. The critically wounded puppy was first taken to a veterinary in Sakarya and then referred to another veterinary clinic in İstanbul for treatment. The puppy, which underwent a surgical operation, could not survive its wounds and lost its life.
A digger operator has been arrested
Speaking to the state-run Anadolu Agency about the incident, the Governor of Sakarya İrfan Balkanlıoğlu stated, "The first findings point to the possibility that the tail and paws of the puppy were cut by a heavy construction equipment."
Upon the release of this statement, Sakarya Public Prosecutor Lütfi Dursun announced that an investigation has been launched into the murder of the puppy and the digger operator İ.M., who was working in the area, was taken into custody as part of the investigation.
The digger operator İ.M. was released after giving his deposition on June 16. However, İ.M. was arrested yesterday as per the Article No. 151 of the Turkish Penal Code.
Politicians denounced the death of puppy
The death of the puppy caused an outrage on social media. The hashtag #HayvanaŞiddetSuçtur (Violence against animals is a crime) became the first trending topic on Twitter in Turkey and it became the sixth trending topic in the worldwide trending list.
Politicians also condemned the murder of the puppy.
The Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalın wrote on Twitter, "Tormenting, torturing, harming, killing animals and the like is a sin and a crime. Animals are entrusted to us by Allah and they have a right over us. #HayvanaŞiddetSuçtur (Violence against animals is a crime) and we will not take a step back from the legal and social struggle against it."
The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Kocaeli MP candidate Dr. Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu said, "We cannot forget the look in the eyes of the innocent puppy in Sakarya. The humankind has com-mited an atrocity that cannot be forgotten. In fact, we have betrayed the animals, whom we are obliged to protect. We kept silent and could not do the necessary in the face of the atrocity climate that made this to the puppy."
The Deputy Chair of the main opposition party Republican People's Party (CHP) Haluk Koç also emphasized that "everyone should take a stand against atrocity and repression in every sphere of life."
AKP: Animal Protection Law will be amended after the elections
Speaking about the murder of the puppy in Sakarya, both the Governmental Spokesperson Bekir Bozdağ and the Minister of Justice Abdülhamit Gül stated that the necessary amendments to the related Law on Animal Protection will be made after the Presidential and Parliamentary elections on June 24, 2018. (EKN/PT/SD)
