The Hayirsizada Dog Massacre

The four centuries of Ottoman rule from the Conquest of Constantinople until the Tanzimat era, the dogs of Istanbul enjoyed a period of peaceful coexistence with humans. Then came a period of modernization, where dogs came to be associated with poverty and unkemptness. In an effort to modernize the city, Sultan Mahmud II ordered all stray dogs to be exiled to various islands in the Marmara Sea.