海角大神

Few aspects of Istanbul's government-driven gentrification efforts have caused as much angst as a scheme to do away with the city's legions of stray dogs and cats.听

In recent weeks, several thousand people have marched through Istanbul and other Turkish cities in protest of a draft law that envisions the rounding up and relocation of stray animals to specially created "natural habitat parks."

The law pits efforts to revamp the booming city聽against a mind-set that remains strong聽within older districts, where聽street animals are seen as聽legitimate denizens of the city.

"These are the neighborhood's dogs," says Hamit Yilmaz Ozcan, as he sits with Chico, an elderly Alsatian, and Hercule, his younger, rust-colored companion, two strays that reside near his clothing shop in the neighborhood of Cukurcuma.

"They protect us and everyone loves them."

The government has expressed bafflement at the resistance, insisting its aim is to protect strays from the danger and hunger they face on the streets.

Authorities say the dogs and cats will be fed and cared for at the new "habitat parks" situated on city outskirts, where they will be visited by schoolchildren and available for adoption.

"The proposed law aims to make animals live," the Ministry of Forestry and Water, which drafted the bill, said in a statement last month.听"The aim is to prevent bad treatment of animals, clarify institutional responsibilities, and to strengthen the mechanisms of animal ownership.鈥�

Currently Turkey's strays are rounded up by municipal authorities, who generally vaccinate and spay or neuter them before releasing them back onto the streets with ear tags.

Animal rights activists are suspicious of government motives.

鈥淭he intention is to massacre these animals in a place where people will not see it,鈥� says Emel Yildiz, a film actress and one of Turkey鈥檚 most prominent animal rights activists.

A support network for strays

Street animals have been a part of Turkish culture for generations, and many Istanbul residents believe they have as much right to inhabit the streets as people.

In the central Beyoglu district, a shopping and nightlife hub popular with tourists, stray dogs and cats are a fixture of the crowded, narrow streets.听They are fed and often groomed by local businesses and residents. Some even become local celebrities.

One such character is Nazli, an obese Rottweiler mongrel who spends her days waddling between cafes, butcher shops, and fishmongers off Istiklal, the city鈥檚 busiest shopping street.

鈥淓veryone loves her,鈥� says Kubilay Bircan a cafe worker on Hazzo Pulo Passage, where Nazli often sleeps at night.听鈥淭he shopkeepers feed her with different things: fish and meat mainly. We all take care of her,鈥� he says.

Four years ago, local tradesmen, concerned about the length of her toenails, wrestled Nazli to the ground so a veterinarian could clip them, recalls Rita Cindoyan, a shopkeeper in the passage.听鈥淵ou couldn鈥檛 just take [Nazli] to a new place because she has been here all her life and she is looked after,鈥� she says.

At the Coskun butcher shop in the nearby fish bazaar, where Nazli is better known as Zehra, manager Ibrahim Ersoy is blunt about the proposed law.

鈥淲e would not let it happen,鈥� he said. 鈥淚n our language we have a saying that the one who doesn鈥檛 love animals can鈥檛 love people.鈥澛�

惭辞诲别谤苍颈锄补迟颈辞苍听

Opponents of the latest scheme see echoes of the "Great Dog Massacre of 1910," an event embedded in the city鈥檚 folklore.听Ottoman authorities rounded up most of Istanbul鈥檚 60,000 stray dogs and dumped them on the deserted island of Sivriada, a tooth of rock that lies in the nearby Marmara Sea. The dogs slowly starved to death.

That culling, too, took place amid a campaign to modernize the city, and was met with fierce resistance.听The Western-oriented Young Turk government wanted to "Europeanize" Istanbul, and saw the strays as an embarrassment.

The government has even grander聽ambitions today: to make the city into a global hub, like New York or Tokyo.听Turkey is riding high after a decade of economic growth in which per capita income tripled.听A wave of urban renewal schemes in Istanbul and other major cities has resulted in vibrant, ramshackle neighborhoods being razed and replaced with luxury housing projects, while the former inhabitants have been shunted to tower blocks on the urban fringe.

鈥淪trays are often seen as representing tradition or backwardness and associated with poor communities,鈥� says Chris Pearson, a historian at the University of Liverpool who is studying the urban history of dogs.听鈥淔or a city to appear modern, it must have clean, orderly streets, where shoppers and businessmen are not harassed by strays.鈥�

In Paris and London, the tide turned against street dogs in the mid-1800s, fueled mainly by modern ideas of public health, but also by other factors, including the rise of pet ownership.听But many people fear the changes are destroying the traditional social fabric, of which street animals are a part.

鈥淚stanbul is going through a huge modernization, and in the new living spaces, animals don鈥檛 have a place,鈥� says Tolga Sezkin, a photographer who cares for several street dogs.

'More humane'

Minister of Forestry and Water聽Veysel Eroglu, whose department is responsible for the draft law, argues that the proposal is more humane than practices in many other countries.

鈥淭his law does not aim to kill and destroy animals. Rather it aims to keep them alive,鈥� he said, .听

鈥淚n the Western countries animals are killed in these kind of places,鈥� he said, referring to the proposed "habitat parks." 鈥淔or us such a course is not an option."聽

The ministry also pointed out that the draft law includes measures that would criminalize the abuse and torture of animals for the first time in Turkey.

The bill has supporters. 鈥淭here are too many [strays],鈥� says Abdullah Yilmaz, who sells simit 鈥� traditional Turkish bagels 鈥� from a stall on Istiklal Street.

鈥淚 walk 50 meters from my home to the bus stop every morning, and 10 dogs follow me. They are annoying for tourists. When there is a big group of dogs I can see them get scared.鈥�

The furor has prompted an indefinite postponement of the parliamentary vote on the draft law, but the聽street animals' patrons are already taking precautions against a possible roundup.

Two weeks ago in Cukurcuma, Mr. Ozcan fitted Chico and Hercule with new collars bearing their names.

鈥淚f they come and grab them in the night when no one鈥檚 around, they will see the collars and think twice,鈥� he hopes.