Socialist party joins fight to protect children

One of Turkey’s socialist parties has teamed up with a socialist initiative to spare rock-throwing children from being prosecuted under the anti-terror law. The joint force calls for immediate steps to rescue children from facing life sentences under the controversial law.

“The imprisoned children should be released soon. We are here to defend them because they are one of the main actors in our fight for democracy,” said Kamil Tekin Sürek, deputy chairman of the Labor Party, or EMEP, at a news conference at the party’s provincial office.

According to a draft bill that has been presented to Parliament, new amendments will be made to the relevant articles for penalties given to children.

The government's draft is designed to protect children who throw stones at police from facing time in prison under the anti-terror law.

In the draft, children under 18 would be judged by juvenile courts and not by adult criminal courts.

Sürek said the draft was a test for the government to prove its sincerity with its democratic initiative.

“If the Justice and Development Party [AKP] is sincere in its initiative it calls democratic, it should rescue all children from facing several years [of prison] under the anti-terror law,” Surek said.

“It is an obligation for the forces of peace and democracy to raise their voices for democratic rights and the fight for freedom,” he said.

The party’s action came as part of an ongoing campaign conducted by socialist intellectuals to help imprisoned children. Four months ago, a group of socialists established the “Justice Initiative for Children.”

Speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review, Metin Boran, a theater director and critic, said the initiative aimed to reorganize the opposition against the anti-terror law, which was commonly seen as undemocratic not only for children, but also for women and other young individuals.

“Under the anti-terror law, 14-year-old children could face 20 years in prison. Not only legal experts, but also people from all walks of life should oppose this law,” he said.

The children’s initiative began four months ago when a platform for solidarity with the children staged a demonstration at the Tütün Deposu, an old tobacco warehouse in Istanbul’s Tophane neighborhood.

The platform is a pre-dominantly socialist group made up of poets, writers and theater actors, critics and lawyers. The group also included some members whose views are close to Turkey’s center-right wing.

Another socialist writer and member of the initiative, Sennur Sezer Özyalçınlar, thinks the children’s issue has been subsumed under discussions about the wider initiative and that the cases should be treated independently of the Kurdish issue.

“This draft should not be perceived as an improvement as part of the democratic initiative,” she said, adding that she thought the children should only be tried in accordance with children’s laws.

“The punishment should not violate the pro-child international convents signed by Turkey. They should not be under the anti-terror law. We do not have the right to destroy a child’s future just because he attended a march or carried a banner,” said Özyalçınlar.

Sennur Sezer’s husband, Adnan Özyalçınlar, a socialist poet and member of the pro-child initiative, said the anti-terror law was one of biggest examples of unjust treatment toward children.

“It is a law that has strongly violated children’s rights. This law is nothing but a great destruction of the children’s future. When found guilty under the anti-terror law, the child’s future is over,” he said.