Parliament's Speaker Office

Ruling AKP submits animal rights bill

Turkey's AKP on July 1 submitted a long-awaited bill on animal rights to the Parliament's Speaker Office.

Under the bill, "animals will no longer be seen as products, but as life," Mahir Ünal, the party's deputy parliamentary group chair, told reporters in parliament.

Also under the bill, the sale of cats and dogs by pet shops will be banned, he said.