MP Zeybek: “Government abandons Thrace’s livestock farmers without income or support amid sheep pox outbreak”
Opposition MP Hüseyin Zeybek of the New Left (NE.AR.) accused the government of “failure and negligence” in handling the ongoing sheep pox crisis in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, where mass cullings have devastated livestock herds.
Zeybek, who serves as the party’s agricultural policy spokesperson, highlighted the severity of the situation: over 40,000 sheep and goats have already been culled in İskeçe, more than 25,000 in Rhodope, and total losses in the wider region exceed 100,000 animals. According to Zeybek, at least two new outbreaks are detected each week, with farmers left unable to generate income.
“The government offers only promises instead of real measures for prevention and support. Farmers are forced to keep their flocks confined, stripped of any possibility of income, while the compensations provided do not even minimally cover their enormous losses,” Zeybek said.
The New Left is demanding:
- Immediate and full compensation for every culled animal,
- Direct subsidies for animal feed,
- Emergency income support for affected farmers,
- A comprehensive prevention and control plan to stop the uncontrolled spread of the disease.
Zeybek concluded: “We will not allow Thrace’s livestock farmers—or those anywhere in the country—to be abandoned. Agricultural production and the local economy cannot withstand more government failures.”
