Children in detention

Members of the Women's Council of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) gathered in front of the Galatasaray Highschool in central Istanbul on Tuesday (7 July) in order to protest against the continuing prosecution of children under the Anti-Terrorism Law.

Around 3,000 children are on trial, and some have been convicted already. Many of those on trial are being detained.

Among the protesters were DTP Iğdır MP Pervin Buldan and Istanbul MP Sebahat Tuncel. Together with around 50 women they made a press statement, then walked to the Galatasaray post office, where they sent the detained children postcards.

The women carried placards with pictures of Uğur Kaymaz, a child who had been beaten on the head with a rifle butt by a police officer, as well as slogans such as "Children are our future, don't touch our future" and "Free detained children" and "Are these children murderers?"

"Worrying conditions"

Fatma Özbey said, "Kurdish children are being kept from schools and their families, and are exposed to physical and psychological torture and maltreatment in detention and during questioning." She added, "The conditions of imprisonment of the children currently in detention are worrying."

"The reports based on prison visits with the children show that even basic needs such as shelter, social activities, education and food are not fulfilled properly."

Özbey listed some of the rights violations:

* Some of the children detained under the Anti-Terrorism Law are kept in cells with adults

* Family visits are obstructed

* The right to fortnightly sports is violated

* Children face psychological problems because of the oppressive and restrictive climate.

She added that the Anti-Terrorism Law was in direct conflict with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act, as well as Articles 90, 10, 36 and 37 of the Turkish Constitution.

She called for parliament to immediately discuss the situation of the children being tried under this law.

MP Tuncel said that labelling the detained children as criminals was an obstruction to the solution of the Kurdish issue. (BÇ/AG)