“He who does not love animals does not love humans either.” The sentiment conveyed in a tweet by the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) Bahcelievler branch was echoed by Turkish social media accounts spanning the ideological spectrum to mark Oct. 4, World Animal Day. Seyma Dogucu, president of the AKP’s Istanbul women’s branch, posted a photograph of herself caressing a scrawny black kitten with the top trending Twitter hashtag #CanDostlarımızınYanındayız, which translated literally means “We stand by our life friends.”

Sezgin Tanrikulu, a prominent member of the main opposition pro-secular Republican People’s Party, seized the occasion to press for new legislation introducing harsher penalties for cruelty to animals.

The law was last amended in 2004 and “is insufficient,” Tanrikulu told Al-Monitor. “The main problem is that it treats violence against animals as a misdemeanor, which in turn means that offenders get off with a fine instead of jail time,” he explained.

Turkey’s record on animal rights remains spotty. Local municipalities — be they pro-secular, Islamic, Nationalist or Kurdish — periodically cull strays with poisoned meat. Municipal workers in the central Anatolian province of Nevsehir provoked uproar when they were caught on camera in July bagging live canine strays and tossing them into a garbage-crushing truck.