Necdet Ipekyuz form the Turkish Human Rights Foundation (TIHV) Branch in Diyarbakir (south-eastern Turkey) is one of the coordinators of the work related to the rehabilitation of children released from prison after the amendment of the Anti-Terror Law (TMK). The project was initiated by non-governmental organizations in the city of Batman. According to Ipekyuz, the treatment of the victims is going to take years.

Ipekyuz talked to bianet about the work carried out as a joint project by the TIHV Diyarbakir, the Pursue of Justice for Children Group, bar associations, the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) and NGOs. "Everybody thinks that the issue is finished since the amendments were enforced but it is actually just starting", the coordinator explained.

"We do not know how many children were legally released, how many were kept in detention and for what reasons those ones have not been released. We do not know what is going to happen to the children who were released if they would be confronted with similar incidents. The children have been detained for several months, some of them even for more than one year. How are their health conditions? Did they catch any disease in prison? What about their mental health? What are these children and their families going to face when they continue their education or start working? We have to find answers to all these problems in particular".

Also families need therapy

Ipekyuz emphasized that the situation of the children and their families have to be considered first of all. "We are following up the situations of the victims in periodic intervals throughout the coming two years. The children are currently in a stage of recovery. Visitors come to see them. Not all of the problems might come up during this period of time. The problems will only emerge afterwards. Our aim is to speed up the process of the children's adaption process and their contribution to society", Ipekyuz stated.

He pointed out that not only the children but also their families are in need of support:

* Both the children and the family as a group and as individuals need therapy. They are afraid of experiences that also influenced the family. The mothers are worried and anxious. They say that they wake up with fear. They have to undergo therapy because the families' future behaviour towards the children is important.

* The children who continue their education need the help of private teaching institutions and stationary. It is even more important to talk to the children's teachers and explain that the children need to be treated attentively. We plan to do this in cooperation with the Education and Science Workers' Union (Eğitim-Sen).

* We are currently investigating the situation for the children who will not go to school, looking into the possibilities to create employment areas for them. We are working together with the local governments to provide IT seminars and various vocational courses for the children.

* The group consists of psychologists, social service experts and lawyers who work as volunteers. We will announce the results of our work in a report in two years time. Our aim is to create an example with this rehabilitation period for similar experiences in Turkey and world-wide. (SP/VK)