Two sentenced to for 2.5 months in jail for making dog sounds in western Turkey

İZMİR – Doğan News Agency

Two men have been sentenced to two-and-a-half-months in prison after making barking sounds at a woman feeding stray dogs in the Aegean province of İzmir. 

The two men, identified only as 55-yerar-old Ali İ. And 51-year-old Recep K., were sentenced to two months and fifteen days in prison each on charges of “disrupting peacefulness and tranquility.” After issuing the ruling, the judge in the case converted the sentences into fines of 1,500 Turkish Liras each.

They had been charged after making barking sounds when a woman, İffet Kocaçam, 39, was feeding stray dogs outside her office in the Latife Hanım neighborhood of İzmir’s Karşıyaka district on April 13.

The Karşıyaka 8th Criminal Court for Serious Crimes issued the ruling in the case filed after Kocaçam lodged a criminal complaint over the issue.

She said the two men were drinking alcohol and making sounds like barking and howling dogs from a car. 

“I saw two men drinking inside a car, with its windows open. They kept making the same sounds even after seeing me. I don’t know either of them, but I took a photo of their car,” Kocaçam said during the court hearing of the case, in which the two men were tried without arrest. 

Ali İ. reportedly said during the hearing that he and Recep K. did not see Kocaçam until she had taken the photo of their car, adding that they were simply chatting with each other at the time. 

“We were sitting in the car and the windows of the car were closed. We were chatting, perhaps a little loudly. We didn’t notice her until she took a photo of the car,” said Ali İ., adding that he does not even drink alcohol for health reasons.