BEING THE OTHER CHILD IN TURKEYTINTRODUCTION

The current regime in Turkey, supported by the State of Emergency (OHAL) and Statutory Decrees (KHK), which is still in effect de facto albeit discontinued de jure, has been carrying out an open and covert social genocide against some parts of Turkey for years. The members of the Hizmet movement, whose number reaches approximately 8.5 million, including their relatives, were exposed to social lynching, direct and indirect rights violations, and grievances that are difficult to compensate. Similarly, along with the policy of persecuting Kurds by denying their ethnic identity, discriminatory and oppressive practices against certain groups such as Alevis and leftists continue.

Babies and children have been the biggest victims of all these tribulations. Hundreds of thousands of children witnessed their parents being fired from their jobs, detained without even an investigation, and arrested on charges that were not even considered crimes under the law. Tens of thousands of children were forced to leave their country, risking their lives with their parents. 35 people, most of them children, lost their lives on these difficult journeys.

Laws protecting women with children were not implemented for women who were victims of the KHKs and OHAL. For example, in Article 16/4 of the Law No. 5275 on the Execution of Penalties and Security Measures, the execution of the prison sentence is suspended for pregnant women or women who have given birth in less than six months. Failure to apply this provision to women members of the Hizmet movement results in serious violations of rights against women and children.

Babies in the womb, newborn children, pregnant and postpartum mothers faced the OHAL/KHK genocide ordeal.
According to the data released by the Ministry of Justice, General Directorate of Prisons and Detention Houses (CTE), as of March 9, 2021, there were 345 babies in prison together with their mothers who were detained or convicted. Since 2016, some 864 babies and more than 3,000 children have been deprived of their childhood and freedom, forced to grow up with their mothers who are politically imprisoned.

While oppression and violence continue unabated, the barriers to access to health in prisons are increasing day by day. One of the groups most affected by these violations in the harsh environment of prisons is unavoidably fragile children.

The Ankara Medical Chamber (ATO) Human Rights Commission reported that during the COVID-19 epidemic, mothers did not want to keep their children in prison to avoid the risk of transmission of the disease to their children. Therefore, instead of keeping them in the harsh conditions of the prisons, they sent their children to their relatives outside the prison. Despite this, 1,941 children were in prison as of December 31, 2021.

ATO Human Rights Commission member Dr. Ayşe Uğurlu draws attention to the problems that may arise when babies under the age of 6 are forced to live in prisons where there is pressure and authority.