Remembering Hay’can – A Boy Whose Compassion Outshone Cruelty
A Life Defined by Kindness
In August 2016, Turkey lost a remarkable soul.
Muhammet Ali Yürekli, affectionately known as “Hay’can”, was only fourteen when he passed away. Though his life was heartbreakingly short, he left behind a legacy that many adults never achieve. He was not famous, nor wealthy, nor powerful. What set him apart was something rarer, an unshakable compassion for animals.
The Meaning of “Hay’can”
The nickname Hay’can blended hayvan (animal) and can (life). It captured the essence of who Muhammet was: a boy who treated every living being as precious. He fed hungry strays, cared for the injured, and advocated for those with no voice. He was also a brilliant student, a member of the Avcılar City Council’s Children’s Assembly, and a boy with dreams of becoming a genetic engineer.
A Community in Mourning
When he died, grief rippled through Avcılar. His funeral at Halkalı Cemevi was filled with tears, but also with tributes to his big heart. Local leaders and animal lovers vowed that his light would not fade. Soon after, a park was named in his honor—Muhammet Ali Yürekli Park, a space where dogs could play safely, and his compassion could live on in every wagging tail.
A Nation at War with Its Animals
This tribute, however, also raises painful questions. While one boy chose love, the nation around him too often chooses cruelty. Dogs are poisoned in the streets, rounded up in mass culls, and vilified in the media. Stray animals, once woven into the daily life of Turkish communities, are now branded as threats. Policies lean toward extermination rather than co-existence.
What Muhammet Taught Us
Muhammet’s example should pierce our conscience. At fourteen, he showed us that kindness is not weakness, it is strength. His life reminds us that a society is judged not by how it treats the powerful, but by how it treats the powerless. If one boy could see the value in every life, why can’t we build a system that reflects the same truth?
Carrying His Light Forward
Remembering Muhammet Ali Yürekli is not enough. To truly honour him, we must live by the values he embodied. Every food bowl filled, every stray protected, every law written with mercy rather than cruelty adds to his legacy. His compassion cannot end with him, it must become the seed of a wider change.
A Legacy of Hope
Hay’can proved that compassion is contagious. One boy’s love for animals inspired a whole community, and it can inspire us too. If we choose kindness, if we protect the voiceless, if we live with empathy, then Muhammet’s light will never fade.
His spirit reminds us that even in the darkest times, compassion has the power to transform a nation.