Second sexual abuse case opened against Turkish teacher in Konya

KONYA

A second lawsuit has been filed against a teacher in the Ereğli district of the Central Anatolian province of Konya, after he was sentenced on April 20 to 508 years and three months in jail on charges of sexually assaulting 10 school children in the Central Anatolian province of Karaman.

The Ereğli Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office filed a complaint against the teacher, Muharrem Büyüktürk, 54, at the heavy penal court on charges of also sexually assaulting one of the 10 children at a house he rented in Ereğli, Doğan News Agency reported on April 26.

Büyüktürk allegedly changed the enrollments of five of the 10 students from the Karaman Religious Vocational High School (İmam Hatip) Alumni Association (KAİMDER) to a religious vocational high school in Ereğli at the beginning of the 2015-2016 school year.

He then allegedly rented a house in central Ereğli, where he again sexually assaulted one of the students who he assaulted before.

The incident in Ereğli was revealed during the investigation into the sexual abuse of the 10 students carried out by public prosecutor Murat Ünlü in Karaman.

Prosecutors are now seeking a sentence of up to 40 years in prison for the second case in Ereğli, which will be heard in the coming days. 

Büyüktürk had been teaching private courses for students in apartments rented by the Karaman branch of the Ensar Foundation and KAİMDER when reports surfaced of his sexual abuse of male students, sending shockwaves across the country. 

The Karaman Court of Serious Crimes conducted pre-trial sessions with the victims and recorded their testimonies.

Büyüktürk was arrested on March 13, with a public prosecutor in Karaman demanding 600 years in prison for “sexually abusing a child,” “deprivation of freedom,” “deliberately causing injury” and “encouraging a child to read and view obscene publications.” 

According to the indictment, the victims, whose ages range from 12 to 14, were abused in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015.