Have you ever been curious about the history of Istanbul's street dogs? There was a book on this subject and its exhibition was organized as well. According these works, stray dogs used to work as “four-legged municipalities” and their freedom used to be regarded as the warrant of the freedom of people.
In the city, the number of the living space for the street dogs is zero. The shelters are inadequate and the forests (which are declining) are full of undesirable and abandoned breed dogs in the city. As they are much larger than cats, they walk in the streets as an open target. Some stone them, some kill them, some torture them by cutting their paws or tails. They're so vulnerable. Of course, there are people who help and watch them. However, there are so few compared to the number of people who hate dogs...
Let's see those who say, "We know these, tell us something else." That wasn't always the case. In the history, dogs were indispensable for cities and streets.
A few years ago, we got to know the history of the dogs of Istanbul at the exhibition called “Four-Legged Municipality: Istanbul's Street Dogs” organized by Istanbul Research Institute in Beyoğlu. The good news for those who already missed the exhibition, the Institute also printed its book.
Dogs as the residents of İstanbul
The curator of the exhibition is Ekrem Işın and the consultant is Catherine Pinguet… Living in İstanbul for 12 years, Pinguet had already written the book way before the exhibition once she met Osman Bey, who sells carpets in Cihangir and feeds street.
The exhibition described how street dogs were citizens of Istanbul: dogs are beings who can manage to adopt to everyday city life as humans. The instinctive characteristics play an important role in the representation of the first animal species that can be associated with people, and facilitate the solidarity between them by facilitating their participation in collective life. Eastern socio-cultural factors ensures a security circle that surrounds the world of dogs.
Desolate streets became homelands for dogs
As with many issues, we have limited resources about dogs. Most are based on the notes of European travelers. Chateaubriand categorizes the city with its three features at the Istanbul stop of its journey from Paris to Jerusalem in 1806. The wilderness of the streets, the lack of wheeled vehicles and the excessive number of the dogs. According to Ottoman people, the house secures the family's sacred life. The mosque organizes the holy faith of the community. The market and the bazaar were transforming the effort of the working people into holy earnings.
Only shelters were not enough for dogs to survive. At this point, the institutionalized mercy of Islam was the assurance of the street dogs. Although they were not welcomed at homes, they were taken good care on the streets. Wounded animals were treated. Troughs for water and huts full of straws are built in the neighborhoods. Gerard de Nerval wrote in 1843 that some people wanted money as their last will for those animals. At that time, thanks to the feeling of compassion and mercy were very strong beliefs that dogs managed to create a more free space for themselves.
Dogs and Westernization
However, things were not going well for our four-legged friends. First, in the regions such as Galata and Pera where minorities lived, dogs had difficulty finding food. Because they weren't wanted there. The existence of a vibrant trade center, embassies and luxury buildings on the streets caused dogs not to be wanted. They were poisoned or sent to the other shores by boats.
In the case of mass poisoning in 1906, peddlers, porters and local store owners from the lower part of the community were bitten by the dogs who did not understand that they were actually being helped with yogurt as an antidote to the poisoning. Those people also died because of the poison after they were bitten by the poisoned dogs. (The method of poisoning the animals in Beyoğlu ended in 1996).
In the Christian culture, although dogs were welcomed, they made the daily lives of minorities very difficult as their population got really high in a short period of time. The people of European origin were the owners of breed dogs to have their homes guarded. In the West (a tradition from Roman culture) animals were put in cages and brought to performances… whereas, in the East, they lived like free citizens. Therefore, Europeans who visited the Ottomans were always surprised by the density of street dogs and found it unique to the East.
The four-legged municipalities
Again, according to the notes of European travelers, dogs were working as municipal officers since there was no municipal organization in Istanbul. They had been eating the leftovers on the streets and made the environment clean. In fact, throwing food in the trash was considered a sin, and the leftovers were served to the dogs. The other function of the dogs was to keep the public property safe. A stranger or a foreign salesman could not enter the neighborhood, and if he walked in, he would encounter with the dogs.
In the 19th century, as the Ottomans started to be more on the streets, the dogs began to be seemed as a burden. Urbanism, infrastructure were on the agenda and the municipality was being institutionalized. The crowds of dogs began to represent the distance to modernity. They were exiled to the islands several times, but were brought back because of people's reaction. Dogs became unemployed when the actual municipal officials were on the job with their uniforms. In 1910, tens of thousands of dogs (1 million of human population in Istanbul) were deported to the desolate Sivriada. This meant a slaughter because there was no food and water on the island.
In fact, this slaughter has never ended. Today, the same understanding of exile is done in Belgrade and Beykoz Forests. The only chance for them to survive is shelters and the volunteers taking care of them. Nowadays, as dog ownership has become popular, the number of dogs thrown into the street has been also increasing.
In the book “Four-Legged Municipality”, Romain Gary was quoted “Because their freedom is the warrant of my freedom” as a response to the questions of “What’s with the fuss about these animals?”
