Ministry regulations on specialization training in veterinary medicine in Turkey

Abstract: The first practices associated with specialization training in veterinary medicine in Turkey were initiated in the field of military veterinary medicine in 1880s. On the other hand, six civilian veterinarians were sent abroad for specialization training in 1909. In the Republican era, specialization training in civil veterinary medicine was carried out in a planned and programmed system in accordance with the seven basic regulations issued by the Ministry of Agriculture from 1942 to the 1980s. In 1982, all graduate studies in the field of health sciences were included in graduate schools of health sciences, meanwhile the Specialization High School, the main institution that trains specialists for civil veterinary services, was closed, thus specialization education in this field was terminated. In the following years, the legal regulations prepared for specialization training in civil veterinary medicine could not be put into effect, thus specialists could not be trained for about 40 years. In 2018, a new regulation was put into effect for specialization training in civil veterinary medicine. But since the training has not started yet, it remains unknown to what extent this practice will meet national requirements and universal standards.