Children killed: The guilt lies in the culture of impunity

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Uğur Kaymaz, Ceylan Önkol, Berkin Elvan, Miray bebek, Cemile Çağırga, Erdem Aşkan...

The vehicle that a specialist sergeant was using hit 5-year-old Erdem Aşkan on Wednesday (June 7) in Yüksekova, Hakkari, and killed him. The specialist sergeant responsible for the death, A.K.P. with his initials, was released on condition of judicial control.

The death of the minor brought to our minds the child deaths caused by armed conflict, by mines, unattended explosives, bullets, bomb explosions, violence, and mistakes/negligence of the officials or armored vehicles throughout all these years.

The armed conflict took 569 children's lives

In the 1988-2013 period of armed conflict, 569 children were killed in the east and southeast provinces of Turkey according to a report by the Human Rights Association (İHD).

Armored vehicles kill 21 children in 15 years

The Diyarbakır branch of the İHD keeps track of the children killed after they were hit by armored vehicles or vehicles used by the security personnel in Kurdish-majority provinces. The branch reports that 21 children were killed and 23 were injured in 82 such incidents in the last 15 years.

Hit by 13 bullets at the age of 12

12-year-old Uğur Kaymaz was killed in a barrage of gunfire together with his father Ahmet Kaymaz in front of their house in Kızıltepe, Mardin on November 21, 2004. Uğur was killed with his slippers on his feet. 13 bullets were found on his small body and 8 on his father's.

The Mardin Governorship announced that the father and son were "terrorists preparing for an action," and Kalashnikovs were left by their side in the pictures that were leaked to the press. The four police officers who stood trial were acquitted. Turkey was convicted in the case that was brought to the European Court of Human Rights for "violation of the right to life."
Her mother collects Ceylan's pieces on her skirt

Ceylan Önkol was killed with a mortal shell when she was only 12 while she was grazing sheep in Şenlik in Lice, Diyarbakır. Her mother was able to reach her daughter's dead body 6 hours later and she had to collect pieces of her daughter's dead body on her skirt.

Not a single perpetrator stood trial and the judicial processes that the family started did not reach any result. The Administrative Court ruled that compensation of 283 thousand lira (37,530 dollars) should be paid to the family.

Berkin Elvan died at 16 kilograms at the age of 15

Berkin Elvan, died on March 11, 2014, after staying for months in a coma after a tear gas capsule shot by the police hit his head during the Gezi Park protests on June 16, 2013. He was 15 years old and only 16 kilograms when he died after 269 days of coma.

The case ended eight years after Elvan's death and the police officer that the court found guilty was given a prison sentence of 16 years and 8 months.

19 of those killed in Roboski in air bombardment were children

34 people were killed, 19 of whom were children in the Roboski village of Uludere, Şırnak, as a result of the bombardment by the warplanes of the Turkish Armed Forces on the night of December 28, 2011. The massacre was not reported on the news channels at night or in the morning. The mainstream media reported the event only after it was announced on the official website of the Turkish General Staff.

The dead bodies and body pieces were burnt. The villagers had to carry the dead bodies of their beloved on blankets over mules.

Years passed but no perpetrators were identified and no one stood trial.

7-year-old Muhammed and 6-year-old Furkan Yıldırım brothers were killed, hit by a panzer that crushed into their house on May 4, 2017, in Silopi, Şırnak. Ö.Y., the police officer driving the panzer was released in the first hearing.

Later the police officer was given 19 thousand lira as a penalty, and his superior M.M. was acquitted.

At least 80 children were killed during curfews

The data that İHD and the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV) collected during the 2015-2016 curfews show that at least 80 children were killed during these curfews.

Nearly all the files ended up with assailants unidentified at the courts.

Three-month-old Miray baby

An 89-day-old baby, Miray İnce, the grandmother, and the grandfather were hit by bullets at their house during the curfew on December 25, 2015, in Cizre, Şırnak. Miray baby and the grandfather lost their lives.

A dead body in a deep freezer

Şırnak'ın Cizre ilçesine bağlı Cudi Mahallesi'nde 7 Eylül 2015'te Cemile Çağırga was killed by gunfire in Cizre, Şırnak in front of their house, opened from an armored vehicle. Because of the curfew, her family had to keep the dead body of 10-year-old Cemile Çağırga in the deep freezer for three days.

Bünyamin İrci (14), Selman Ağar (9), Hakkı Külte (13), Fatma Elarslan (13), Hüseyin Ertene (16), Mehmet Mete (10), Cihat Morgül (14), Rozerin Çukur (17) and Aydın Mete (17) were also killed in the same period in Cizre.

These children were among those whose files were closed at the courts, with "assailants unidentified."

The culture of impunity

Human rights organizations report that in incidents of death or injury that result from the acts of the security forces, often there are even no investigations started, or where there are investigations the perpetrators receive penalties that seem more like "rewards."

Impunity results in new incidents

Where there are no effective investigations or deterrent penalties, the perpetrators continue to get protection from the "impunity shield". Unfortunately, such deaths continue to be seen because of the lack of effective measures taken. Systematic impunity creates new perpetrators every day. (NT/PE)