As required by the agreement, the following will not permitted to be done to cats and dogs without a medical reason:
Among the 70 international agreements which are waiting at the TBMM (Turkish Parliament) General Assembly, is an agreement which closely concerns domestic pets. When the agreement - which has been waiting for a year and a half - is ratified by the politicians, cats and dogs will be taken under the protection of international laws. According to the provisions of the agreement, owners of animals will be responsible for "the animal's health and welfare". It won't be possible to give a pet to children under 16 without parental permission. Pet shop owners will follow this rule. In cases of health risk, it will not be possible to use pets in advertisements, entertainments, exhibitions and competitions. If this agreement had been in force, the responsibility for the cat which died for an as yet unknown reason in the "Someone Is Watching Us" programme would have been the contestants.
This agreement - and the Animal Rights Draft Law which arranges the penal sanctions in the agreement - are waiting in the TBMM in an environment where pets wander the streets and are massacred.
Turkey - trying to reach European Union norms with compatibility laws - is not showing the same sensitivity on the subject of international agreements. TBMM Foreign Office Commission Chairman Kamran Inan claimed that the government and Foreign Secretary Ismail Cem were not behaving sensitively on the subject of the agreements which are waiting at the TBMM General Assembly. Among the agreements which are waiting is the agreement to prevent Child Pornography, as well as the agreement to prevent discrimination against women. The agreement on protecting pets and the agreement which envisages a fight against racism have not been discussed since last year.
Hakan AKPINAR / ANKARA