Day 5 Meeting with Turkish Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock

Today, the Eyes on Animals and Animal Welfare Foundation team held a meeting with Dr. Bayram Sertkaya, Head of Animal and Animal Products Border Inspection Department and Dr. Cüneyt Cem Gürkan, veterinarian in charge of animal-import at the border, to discuss the current situation at the border.

They admit to us that Turkey started importing EU animals by land too early, without having the proper infrastructure at their border in place. They have now purchased a 15000m2 plot of land inside the border where they hope to start building a proper stall in late October so that animals are unloaded correctly, and if needed to wait long at the border, can do so there instead of inside the trucks. This will cost Turkey 5 million Euros, no subsidy from the EU.

The veterinarians at the border now also work until 22:00 instead of 17:00 as in the past. After 22:00 they are now on-call during the night too, should an animal truck arrive and need processing. These are promising improvements!

We remind them that they still need to organize more water hoses inside the border, as we had suggested last year. They inform us that the man from yesterday lied to us; there is indeed enough water pressure inside the border, but because this parking area was never meant to be for livestock trucks (it is close to the Duty Free shops and restaurants, thus not pleasant for the human travellers) they are purposely not cooperating in making things there easier for the animal trucks. The border workers don’t want the livestock trucks there. Dr. Bayram Sertkaya and Dr. Gürkan promise us that they will speak to customs and the chief of the border about getting more hoses in place.

They insist that Turkey is not to be blamed for all the animal suffering, the EU needs to do more too. EU export countries continue to send animals that do not have the correct papers, missing ear marks, sometimes there are even extra animals being smuggled. They closed the trade with Bulgaria for 4 months this year because of falsified ear marks and smuggled animals coming from that country. On the papers of one sheep truck it was even written that there were 400 sheep on board, but when they unloaded them there were 600. As well, often the traders write that the animals are destined for further fattening, because they can then avoid paying the 19% import tax required for slaughter animals, but in reality the animals are going for slaughter. Last year Hungary was involved in serious fraud as well, reusing ear tags from animals that had already been slaughtered. Turkey must take care that no diseases enter their country- all this cheating and criminal activity is what leads to these long waiting times. It takes time to identify the problem and then fix it, particularly because the animals cannot just be turned around and sent back to the EU. When 20 trucks come, and just one has a problem, it slows everything down. As well, many drivers enter the border with their animals at a time when their own driving hours are at the maximum, and thus they are not allowed to drive further and have to rest inside the border. Why don’t these EU drivers stop for their break before entering the border, at a place where animals can be given adequate water, feed and rest too? They know that once in the border infrastructure for the animals is still limited.

We understand their points and reassured them that we are putting pressure on the EU exporters as well. It is indeed unfortunate that the UECBV (Union of EU meat and live animal traders) did not come to this meeting. We had invited them and they were planning on joining us, but could not make it last minute. The EU exporters and Turkish importers started this risky long-distance trade in live animals, and they are both profiting from it. It was up to them to first organize and coordinate the details properly before starting this trade. It is now the second year that we are reporting on serious animal suffering. Although small improvements have been made, it is not yet enough. It is indeed time that they clean up their business mistakes and start communicating better with each other.