Abuse of Kurdish Detained Children in Turkey

This current story of abuse of children in prisons traces back to the Turkish Republic’s policies from the 1930s. The “president of the Mersin Association of Help and Solidarity with Immigrants (Goc-Der), Selahattin Guvenc, said that it has been the government’s policy since the establishment of the Turkish Republic to retain and abuse Kurdish children, referring specifically to the sexual abuse of forcibly adopted girls after the Dersim massacre in 1938.”

“This is a government’s policy. The government takes away the children and subjects them to harassment and sexual abuse. It took place 74 years ago in soldiers’ homes where girls were forced to go. It is taking place today in prisons,” said Guvenc.”

Current Abuse of Children in Prisons

“Kurdish children who were arrested for political reasons and placed in Pozanti Prison claimed they’d been sexually abused and beaten by ordinary criminals in the same ward, diclehaber.com reported.

Upon arrival, we were forced to pass naked through X-ray machines many times,” one 17-year-old, identified as V.Y., said. “The soldiers hit our fingers while taking our fingerprints. Then they took us to a dark room where we were forced to undress. They poured cold water on us and hit us with hose pipes,” said V.Y., who spent four and a half months in the prison when he was 13.

As sexual and physical abuse claims struck the agenda, similar stories began to surface, of sick prisoners left untreated and political prisoners limited socially. Those who resisted the wardens were removed from the ward and returned with their pants off.

V.Y. says he was subjected to torture not only in the Pozanti Prison but also in the police station and the Tarsus C Type Closed Prison. V. Y. has applied to the Human Rights Association (İHD) Adana Branch for legal aid.

Families are unhappy with the government’s proposed solution to transfer prisoners from Pozanti Prison to the Sincan Prison. “Instead of transferring them to far-away prisons where we will not be able to visit them, they should improve the conditions of the Pozanti Prison,” said Abdullah A., whose son C.A., also 17, has been jailed for 6 months.

Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Mersin MP Ertugrul Kurkcu recently met with the prison administration who denied the claims. Kurkcu maintained that the claims are real and should be investigated.

A commission from the People’s Republican Party (CHP) also went to Mersin this month to investigate the child abuse claims. The commission visited the ISTAR Women’s Counseling Center and the Human Rights Association Mersin Branch.

“The released children live in a state of paranoia,” said Didem Gelegen from ISTAR. “They are very anxious, they believe they are being followed and tapped.”

During a recent protest in Diyarbekir, the Association of Socialist Youth (SGD) demanded the resignation of Sadullah Ergin, the Turkish Minister of Justice. “The oppressive mentality of December 19, which turned the prisons into bloodshed, has been replaced with a similar mentality turning the prisons into torture centers for children. The Ministry of Justice is responsible for all inhuman treatment, sexual abuse, and torture,” said Julide Ates on behalf of the SGD. Its members plan to send postcards to the children in the prison.

In Ankara, the Progressive Lawyers Association (CHD) maintains that the transfer of children from the Pozanti Prison to the Ankara Juvenile Closed Prison isn’t a solution, as the latter has been denounced several times. Human Rights Association (IHD) Secretary Emrah Seyhanlioglu criticized the small number of juvenile prisons in Turkey, saying, “There are only 3 juvenile prisons, whereas more than 2,000 children are jailed in Turkey. This means children are incarcerated together with adults.”

“The real solution is to transfer these children to reformatories,” said CHD Ankara Branch President Murat Yilmaz. “Hospitals must be opened where psychologists will ensure the protection from any kind of abuse. The state is responsible for the [sexual abuse] incidents. Because the state ignores them these incidents increase.”

Meanwhile eight child prisoners jailed under the Anti-Terror Law (TMK) in the Mardin E Type Closed Prison declared that they have gone on a three-day hunger strike to protest the abuse incidents and the isolation of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Leader Abdullah Ocalan.”
Kurdish Children in Turkish Prison Sexually Abused
[Armenian Weekly 3/20/12]

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