Seçil Düzkaya, a 2nd year student at the European University of Lefke (EUL) Faculty of Law, attended the International Animal Rights Congress and represented EUL.

Stating that the competition, which was held jointly with Istanbul Gedik University and Germany Bielefeld University, covers all international law students, Düzkaya stated that she was entitled to make a presentation at the congress with her article on animal rights and ethics.

Düzkaya, who was entitled to be one of the 2 students who were entitled to make a presentation, expressed his thoughts as follows; “I was very well received at the congress, and I received very commendable words from the president who reviewed my article. I was very honored by words such as ‘We didn’t think you were a second year, we thought you were 3 or 4, we would love to bring someone like you into the academy’. I tried to answer all the questions asked and represent my school in the best way possible.”

Düzkaya, Discussed the topic of “Animal as a Subject of Rights”

Düzkaya discussed the subject of “Animal as a Subject of Rights” at the congress and conveyed the following about his presentation; First of all, I started with what is a right, I talked about the importance of who established the legal order and how much rights the legal order established by humans gives to animals. I mentioned that the responsibility for the damage caused to animals should not be on the owners, but on the animals directly. I have discussed some authors’ approach to animals. (Donaldson and Kant) Finally, I made some opinions about animals and animals being subject of rights in Turkish legislation. To mention, my opinion is; “As animals are no longer the subject of the right and become the subject of the right, since animals have their own rights and interests in national legislation, and the purpose of the law is to protect the interests, we must ensure that animals are not indirectly but directly secured, and animals should be able to be their own legal subject. A fair comparison of animal and human rights is possible by recognizing animals as subjects of rights.

Düzkaya stated that she received a certificate of participation at the end of the congress and that his presentation would be published in the congress journal.