On child abuse in Turkey

Beatings and insults were recently documented as happening in the classroom of a school in Istanbul’s Ümraniye district. 

The “teacher” was beating and insulting small children because they were “unsuccessful” in class. 
The beatings were recorded with a mobile phone in class and the footage instantly went viral on social media. An investigation was launched against the “teacher.” He went on the run but later surrendered to police. 

“I accept the offence. I am sorry. I regret. I had quarreled with some parents that day. My morale was down,” the abusive teacher said in his defense.

This so-called teacher, who swears and hits children, was freed because it is impossible to arrest someone who committed a criminal offence with an upper jail term of two years. So he is now roaming freely.
Good for us. And good for our system. We really do genuinely love our children…

Protecting the abuser 

In the Türkoğlu district of the eastern province of Kahramanmaraş, a 70-year-old pervert identified by the initials H.B., who has a record of abusing many children, recently raped an 8-year-old girl. The child told her family that she was raped in a derelict building after the 70-year-old rapist forcefully took her. He was caught, arrested for three months, appeared in court, and was later freed. 

When the 8-year-old child learned that the abuser was freed, she tried to commit suicide by taking all the pills she had found at home. She was rescued at the last minute.  

This is not a rare case. A 73-year-old abuser in the northwestern province of Tekirdağ sexually abused a 12-year-old girl. He was released on parole with the justification citing “our country’s intense and urgent issues.” It added that “it is not known when the legislator will make a decision on this offence.”
This was not the first such incident.  

Recently, in Ereğli, a girl tried to commit suicide after her abuser was freed, she too was only saved at the last minute. 

The Family and Social Policies Ministry and civil society organizations always have to get involved. They follow such cases but these perverts somehow find loopholes in the legal system and are later released.   

Our system rewards abusers. So much for the love we have for our children…

This is not a child’s game 

There are reports and statistics on the website of the Bu İş Çocuk Oyuncağı Değil Platformu (This Work is Not Child’s Play Platform), working to raise awareness of child labor are trying to find possible solutions.

Roughly half of child laborers are seasonal agriculture workers, according to the platform. Among them, 68 percent work seven days a week for an average of 12 hours a day and get paid 20 Turkish Liras a day. 

Washing, eating, finding a place to sleep in the tent, being protected from violence and receiving education all need a miracle to happen. 

The statistics speak for themselves, but listen to the story of 10-year-old Murat from Viranşehir in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa. 

When his teacher asks him what he did during the summer holidays, Murat usually says, “I hoed sugar and beet in Aksaray, I harvested vegetables in Samsun, and I picked hazelnuts in Düzce.”

The report said Murat lived near a cotton field in Viranşehir with his family and does not attend school when it is the cotton picking season. 

Our corrupt system really does love our children...

The Universal Children’s Day for the protection of children is on Nov. 20. We celebrate that day despite doing all the evil above, closing our eyes, remaining silent and being surprised. 

We have shameless souls…