Turkey protects its children, Hürriyet ad tells Austrians
ISTANBUL
‘Our job is to pursue the truth,’ Hürriyet chairwoman Vuslat Doğan Sabancı says. DHA photo
Laws in Turkey definitely do not allow children to be sexually abused, and the country protects its children very well, reads a new advertisement placed by daily Hürriyet in the Vienna International Airport.The ad was reserved following the recent controversy over previous claims by Austrian and Swedish ministers on Turkey’s sexual abuse laws.
“Our dear Austrian friends! Hürriyet, the leading independent newspaper in Turkey, has investigated. Don’t worry. Laws in Turkey definitely don’t allow children to be sexually abused, as the country protects its children very well. For detailed information: read the ad, referring to a Hürriyet Daily News article by Oya Armutçu.
An earlier article in Austrian daily Kronen Zeitung had claimed that Turkey would allow children under 15 years old to be sexually abused following a Constitutional Court decision.
The controversy caused a diplomatic spat between the two countries, as well as between Sweden and Turkey following statements by a Swedish minister. The Kronen Zeitung article had also been advertised at the Vienna airport.
In the article referred to in Hürriyet’s ad, it is noted that Ankara has moved to increase rather than decrease sentences for the crime.
“We wanted to announce the true version of the article to the world in the same airport and place [in Vienna],” Hürriyet chairwoman Vuslat Doğan Sabancı said.
“As Hürriyet and the Doğan Media Group our job is to pursue the truth. That’s why we investigated and the result was the exact opposite of what had been on that billboard,” Doğan Sabancı added, referring to Kronen Zeitung’s article.
“The draft in Turkey does not allow child abuse. On the contrary it is an attempt to increase sentences for the crime. This [Kronen Zeitung’s] article led to a serious misunderstanding about Turkey in Europe. We wanted to correct that misunderstanding,” she also said.