Marmara Veterinary Road Control Station Opens in Istanbul

November 6, 2026 · Milliyet Ekonomi

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has launched Turkey's 6th veterinary road control and inspection station in Istanbul's Riva district to prevent uncontrolled animal movements and protect Thrace's foot-and-mouth disease-free status.

Marmara Inspection Station Operational

The Marmara Veterinary Road Control and Inspection Station, whose construction was completed at the Istanbul Riva Livestock Transport Control Point campus, has been put into service with an official ceremony. Speaking at the opening ceremony, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı stated that the modern facility will contribute multi-dimensionally to Turkish animal husbandry, herd health, and public veterinary services.

Minister Yumaklı noted that the global climate crisis, environmental pressures, and the shrinking of agricultural land have elevated food demand to a more strategic dimension, and indicated that these challenging conditions will persist for the next 25 years. Yumaklı emphasized that raising the bar for productivity and quality at every stage of agricultural production, from plant production to animal husbandry and aquaculture, has become imperative to meet the food needs of the growing population.

Steps in the Sustainable Animal Husbandry Roadmap

Evaluating the implementation stages of agricultural production planning in the field, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı conveyed the ministry's fundamental production vision with the following words:

"There is an important reality before us. Therefore, from today onwards, we must achieve more efficient, higher quality, and more sustainable agricultural production, which includes plant production, animal production, and aquaculture. With this understanding, we announced the animal husbandry roadmap in February 2024. We have started to implement all the headings in that roadmap completely and without any omissions, and we are continuing."

Officials stated that the planned roadmap announced by the ministry is directly reflected in the field, and that structural investments in animal husbandry will be placed within a permanent and sustainable framework through strengthened public coordination.

Livestock Population and Epidemic Control

According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Turkey's cattle population increased by 7.7% and its small ruminant population by 16% between December 2023 and June 2026. Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı, thanking the breeders and producers who contributed to this production success, made the following statement regarding the fight against epidemic diseases:

"Of course, we owe gratitude to all the breeders and producers who contributed to this success, and I want to express this before you. However, we do not see this success solely in the increase in animal numbers. I want to state that. Our main goal is healthy animals, a strong farm, and efficient, sustainable agricultural production. One of the most important conditions for this goal is the fight against animal diseases. In 2025, we experienced one of the most severe foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks in recent years, perhaps in the last 30-40 years, but we managed to bring it under control in a short period of 4 months. I want to thank all my colleagues working here, all my fellow workers, sector stakeholders, and producers again. I also want to state that the fight against this disease is still ongoing in many European countries."

Domestic Vaccine Production and Integration

Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı stated that early diagnosis and preventive veterinary measures play a central role in preventing the spread of epidemic diseases and explained the importance of infrastructure preparations with the following sentences:

"You need to make your preparations beforehand. You need to organize or establish all your infrastructure accordingly. Therefore, we are strengthening our preventive veterinary services, carrying out our vaccination efforts fully and on time without any deficiencies, and utilizing the technological infrastructure in the fight against diseases. Our goal and aim is to minimize animal diseases entirely."

Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı, touching upon the latest developments in efforts to develop domestic vaccines and modernize the technical capacities of institutes, provided the following information about field research activities:

"While increasing our domestic vaccine production capability and capacity, we continue to upgrade our veterinary control laboratories and similar formations to advanced biosecurity standards. We have completed our work on combining sheep and goat pox and sheep and goat plague vaccines. Our field trials are ongoing. When finalized, it will be a significant gain for our country."

Direct Animal Health Support for Producers

Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı stated that epidemic hotspots have significantly regressed as a result of field studies conducted to protect animal health and announced the progress achieved and direct support packages provided to producers with the following statements:

"We have achieved a 68% reduction in sheep and goat plague outbreaks, a 70% reduction in Bluetongue disease, and a 40% reduction in sheep and goat pox. Those within the sector know how important this is. Furthermore, for the first time this year, we have included animal carcasses, regardless of their cause, under the support scope. Therefore, we will provide a carcass support payment of 20,000 lira per calf that could not survive and 40,000 lira per lamb/kid. This is also an important aspect of supporting our producers. To reduce calf losses, we have procured 2.4 million doses of septicemia vaccine. We have also implemented the Secure Electronic Ear Tag and Monitoring System, which will track all processes of cattle from birth to weaning. Another very important point is that starting this year, we will not charge our breeders any fees for ear tags and vaccines. We have resolved the issues in this regard."

Road Inspection Stations and Sanctions

Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı pointed out that one of the biggest factors triggering the spread of contagious animal diseases is the uncontrolled transport of live animals and stated that the control network is expanding with the following words:

"Therefore, we are working to eliminate the risk of uncontrolled animal movements in the spread of animal diseases. Our veterinary road control and inspection stations, in particular, are one of the most important applications of this approach in the field. To date, we have opened veterinary road control and inspection stations in Erzurum, Elazığ, Kayseri, Çankırı, and Ankara. I mentioned that this will reach 8 stations throughout Turkey. With our station in Istanbul today, we are putting the 6th into service. The remaining 2 will hopefully become operational in Çanakkale and Mersin in the near future."

Sharing the balance sheet of the strict inspections carried out in the field, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı detailed the sanctions imposed on transport owners who did not comply with the rules as follows:

"During the inspections, we detected irregularities in 2,204 vehicles and 22,817 animals. We have applied the necessary administrative penalties for these. We have carried out all the required sanctions. Furthermore, those who did not want to stop at these control points, who evaded them by using different routes, were caught and identified, and sanctions amounting to approximately 36 million lira were imposed on them."

Vaccinated Free Status of the Thrace Region

Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı, referring to the strategic position of the Marmara Region, and especially Istanbul, in live animal circulation, stated that the region's international health standards must be maintained, saying:

"In addition, Thrace has a special status in terms of animal health. The Thrace Region has the status of a vaccinated free zone from foot-and-mouth disease by the World Organisation for Animal Health. The European side of Istanbul is also included in this region. Therefore, effective control of animal movements from Anatolia to Thrace is extremely important for maintaining this status."

Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı, thanking the institutions that contributed to the facility's benefit to the city and the agricultural sector, concluded his speech with the following remarks:

"Land allocation, construction, infrastructure, and landscaping were extremely important. I express my gratitude to our Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure for their support in this regard. I thank all my colleagues, veterinarians, and everyone who contributed to bringing this investment to life."

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