Turkey’s Interior Ministry has authorized investigations into two more district mayors over stray dog attacks and allegations that their municipalities have failed to round up stray animals as required by law, BBC Turkish reported on Tuesday.
The latest permissions concern Köyceğiz Mayor Ali Erdoğan, from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), in the western province of Muğla, and Narman Mayor Burhanettin Eser, from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), in the eastern province of Erzurum.
The ministry said inspections and investigations were being carried out into incidents that “threaten the safety of our citizens” and into whether municipalities are complying with the law on stray animals.
According to the ministry, an 11-year-old child was seriously injured in a stray dog attack in Köyceğiz, where 37 people have received medical treatment after similar attacks over the past two years.
In Narman, a 10-year-old child, identified only by the initials M.T., was injured on several parts of his body in a stray dog attack.
Inspectors found that the animal shelter run by the Köyceğiz Municipality was inadequate in terms of capacity and permits, that stray animals were not being collected effectively and that veterinary services did not comply with regulations, the ministry said.
In Narman, inspectors found that stray animals in the municipality’s area of responsibility had not been rounded up for a long time and that the municipality had failed to meet its legal duties.
In the same statement, the ministry said it had also allowed a preliminary inquiry into Hilvan Mayor Serhan Paydaş, from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa, over allegations that his municipality failed to establish an animal shelter.
The latest decisions follow a similar authorization last week for an investigation into Saray Mayor Davut Acar, also from the DEM Party, after a stray dog attack killed a 5-year-old child and injured his 9-year-old brother in the eastern province of Van.
The Karar daily described that decision as a first for the Interior Ministry and said it could set a precedent for municipalities accused of failing to meet their legal duties on stray animals.
The cases are likely to revive concerns raised by opposition parties and animal rights groups when Turkey adopted a controversial stray animal law in 2024.
The law, passed by parliament on July 30, 2024, expanded municipalities’ duties to collect, care for and rehabilitate stray animals and required local administrations to allocate part of their budgets to shelters.
Mayors and municipal officials who fail to allocate the required funds, or use them for other purposes, can face prison sentences of six months to two years.
Critics warned at the time that the law could be used to pressure opposition-run municipalities and could also lead to the mass confinement or killing of animals. The CHP petitioned the Constitutional Court to annul most of the law, but the court rejected the application in May 2025.
Animal rights advocates say the government should focus on mass sterilization, vaccination, adoption and stronger municipal services instead of large-scale collection campaigns that could leave animals in overcrowded or poorly monitored shelters.
The issue returned to the national agenda earlier this month when Ankara police instructed municipalities in the capital to round up stray dogs before the NATO summit scheduled for July 7-8.
Local authorities were asked to remove animals from routes to be used by summit delegations as well as from areas near venues, airports and hotels.