Minister Yumaklı: “If Aleppo is there, the yardstick is here”

Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumaklı responded to criticisms regarding the 1.8 billion lira allocated for stray animals. Speaking at the AK Party Yozgat Provincial Congress, Minister Yumaklı addressed the criticisms directed at the 1.8 billion lira set aside for stray animals. He stated that the issue was being drawn into different platforms, saying, “Turkey had a problem with stray animals. Recently, a legal regulation came out of our National Assembly regarding this. The purpose was this: Our citizens can no longer walk on the streets. Children can no longer go to school. We cannot accept an environment where parks and gardens are invaded by stray animals. This is a problem that everyone acknowledges, and to solve this issue, we created this legal regulation. As I said at an opening yesterday, ‘the presence of stray animals on the streets in any way is unacceptable.’ However, not a single sentence of this legal regulation legitimizes cruelty to animals. It is not about choosing one over the other. Our duty and goal is to solve our citizens’ problems, and for this, we allocated a resource of 1.8 billion lira for sterilization activities. We also see that today, they are only comparing it to a week’s worth of support payments, saying, ‘Well, 1.8 billion for stray animals but 300 million for farmers.’ But direct supports will reach around 95 billion lira by the end of this year. For 2025, 760 billion lira has been allocated for the agricultural sector. Of this, 135 billion lira consists of support for our farmers. 166 billion lira has been set aside for investments in the agricultural sector. Tax exemptions provided amount to 200 billion lira, and 205 billion lira is allocated for purchase interventions, supporting state enterprises and exports. We say, ‘We will serve. We will allocate the necessary resources for this. This is the amount.’ We will solve this issue of stray animals that our citizens have accepted. They are trying to divert us elsewhere. If Aleppo is there, the measuring stick is here. We will see, and as a ministry, we will follow each case individually. We have taken inventory of all of them. We will see who will allocate from their budget to solve this citizen’s problem and who will not, and we will take the necessary actions.”

“Support and investment of 45.5 billion lira for Yozgat”
Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Ibrahim Yumaklı stated that they have provided 44.5 billion lira in support and agricultural investment to Yozgat in the last 22 years, saying, “We are developing policies that will make agriculture productive and stable with the understanding of strong agriculture, strong Turkey, and we are making investments. With the work we are carrying out, we are striving to make our agricultural sector more efficient and rational at the national level. It is possible to see this great effort in agriculture in every corner of our country. Yozgat is one of them. Yozgat, which ranks first in Turkey in the production of cumin and lentils, second in chickpea and sugar beet production, and is in the top five in the production of vetch and wheat, is a very important city for our agriculture. The total amount of agricultural investment and support made to Yozgat in the last 22 years has been 44.5 billion lira,” he said.

“Agricultural supports increased 12 times”
Yumaklı expressed that they have increased agricultural supports 12 times, stating, “During this process, our agricultural supports have increased 12 times. We achieved a 28% increase in the number of large cattle and a 67% increase in small cattle. The total increase in milk production is 166%. We provided 281 million TL in ORKÖY credits and grants to forest villagers. We brought 123 million saplings together with the soil. We established 4 city forests and 13 honey forests. We constructed a total of 9 dams, 6 ponds, and 26 irrigation facilities in our province. We opened 277,000 decares of land for irrigation. We rehabilitated 76 streams,” he said.

“Eymir Pond will be completed in 2025”
Yumaklı announced plans to complete the Eymir Pond in 2025, stating: “We will tender the Eymir Pond Irrigation, which has a cost of 266 million lira, by the end of this year. We aim to complete our 3rd Phase Flood Control works of Delibaş, which has a cost of 86 million lira, by the end of 2025. Yes, what did we say? Not words, but actions.”