Global protests against imprisonment of children in Turkey

Mohmed Abdel-Ghaffar

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan violated human rights after the fictitious coup, in July 2016, where thousands of Turkish citizens were arrested on charges of joining and communicating with Fethullah Gülen.

Citizens organized in many countries around the world demonstrations against the violations committed by the Turkish President; especially that these violations affected children significantly.

Thousands have gathered in Leipzig to take part in protests demanding the release of children that were detained along with their mothers in the jails of Erdogan.

The protesters held banners reading “11,000 women and 864 children in Turkish prisons” and “release children from prisons”. Activists considered that imprisoning children without charges is a clear violation of human rights and international laws.

Activists and rights activists in the United States also organized a demonstration,on Sept. 26, in conjunction with the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly, to denounce the imprisonment of children with their mothers in Turkey.

In a press release, the organizers confirmed that pregnant women and Turkish mothers were subjected to significant psychological harm in prison as a result of their arbitrary imprisonment, demanding the Turkish government to release them.

The Turkish authorities have adopted a series of violations since the mock coup of summer 2016; women were being arrested along with their children and babies for fake charges, including joining the opposition group of Fethullah Gülen.

Mesale Tolu, a journalist who was detained for months in Turkey, with her 3-year-old son, for alleged terror links, is returning to Istanbul to appear in court.

In 2019 Tolu published a book on her case entitled „Mein Sohn bleibt bei mir!“: Als politische Geisel in türkischer Haft und warum es noch nicht zu Ende ist (“My son stays with me!: As a political hostage in Turkish imprisonment and why it hasn’t ended yet”).

The arrest of the children with their mothers is only a fraction of the broader abuses carried out by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan among Turkish citizens.

According to Turkish Minister of Interior, Süleyman Soylu, the number of those exported from the police force only after Dec. 17-25 and July 15 through the Decree Law is about 33 thousand for joining and communicating with Fethullah Gülen.

Soylu has further added that 511,000 were detained while 30,821 were arrested in the country since the 2016 failed coup attempt in operations against Gülen movement, reported the state-run Anadolu Agency.

“38,578 were dismissed and 5,679 were suspended from our ministry until now. Some of the suspended are behind bars. 31,000 of those were from police department while 4,159 were gendarme, 348 were coast guards and there were some from civil administration,” said Soylu.