352 Kurdish children taken into custody by the Turkish Government

DIYARBAKIR, Kurdish Capital, -- The Human Rights Association (İHD) Diyarbakir Branch has published a new report on the number of Kurdish children who have been taken into custody and arrested in the first four months of the year.

The figures are shocking. According to the report, 352 children were taken into custody, while 116 of them were then remanded in custody. In the same period last year, the number of children taken into custody had been of 286 while those subsequently arrested had been 95.

In the last 16 months the number of children taken into custody rose to 638 while the children arrested have been 211.

IHD Diyarbakir Branch Secretary Raci Bilici accused the government, which changed the Anti-Terrorism Law in 2006, of allowing these children to be tried as if they were adults.

Lawyer Keziban Yılmaz also criticized the law, saying that: “these children were arrested for having taken part in a demonstration, having thrown stones, having chanted slogans or having shown victory signs. All of which was considered enough evidence for the court to punish them for being members of an illegal organizations. Some of the sentences given for such crimes are even longer than their age. The latest changes made to the Law on June 22, 2010, did not help to solve this problem. There is a law currently in effect allowing courts to punish children as if they were adults. We need to change it to save our children.”

At the same time of the İHD’s Diyarbakir press conference to denounce the trial against children, a child was remanded in custody together with seven adults for “producing propaganda for an illegal organization". They had been detained with 12 others following police’s house raids in Urfa and Cizre, two days ago.

Meanwhile the military operation in Diyarbakir’s district Lice continue, while the people in Adana held a protest against military operations. Police attacked the crowd and injured five demonstrators.

Source: http://english.rojhelat.eu/component/content/article/1187-352-kurdish-children-taken-into-custody

3 Kurdish children became the latest victims of Turkish police brutality

MARDIN, North Kurdistan, -- Turkish police attacked the demonstrations all over Kurdistan acts with impunity. Once again Kurdish children have been the victims of Turkish police brutality during the events in Mardin's Nusaybin and Kiziltepe districts in the last 24 hours.
Three children between the age of 3 and 15, wounded by gas bombs thrown by police, are fighting for their life in hospital.

Clashes continued till late last night in Nusaybin and Kiziltepe districts of Mardin, where life came to a standstill for three days following the death of HPG guerrillas in the military operations of the Turkish army.
Police teams, stepping back during some clashes, once again targeted little children and cut across all boundaries while attacking children who responded to gas bombs with small stones in their hands. Within the last 24 hours, three children, two in Nusaybin and one in Kızıltepe, got seriously wounded by gas bombs and taken to hospital for treatment.

THREE YEARS OLD ZEHRA FIGHTING FOR HER LIFE

During a clash between police officers and young demonstrators who barricaded the 27 May Street’s road in Nusaybin, 15 years old Muğdat Muğdatoğlu was seriously injured with the gas bomb hitting his head.
One other child getting wounded during clashes is 3 years old Zehra Altun who was targeted by police while playing in front of their house and got critically wounded with the gas bomb firework hitting her head. The little child, taken to Nusaybin State Hospital by her family, is still under treatment.

HIT ON EYE FROM 10 METERS

Clashes broke out in Tepebası Neighbourhood of Kızıltepe when police intervened in young demonstrators with gas bombs. 12-year-old Roni Ilden, who got wounded on the right eye with a gas bomb thrown in the Democratic Solution Tent in the clash area, was taken under treatment in Kızıltepe State Hospital.

Source: http://english.rojhelat.eu/component/content/article/1180-three-children-the-last-victims-of-turkish-police-brutality-