Child tragedies reignite death penalty calls in Turkey
A string of cases in which missing children were found dead has reignited calls to reinstate the death penalty in Turkey, but some see political motives behind the outcry.
The Turkish media in recent weeks has been awash with stories of missing children, some of whom have met a tragic end. On July 2, the body of a 4-year-old girl was found outside a village in the eastern province of Agri, where she had gone missing 18 days before while the family was visiting relatives. On June 30, the security forces dug up the body of an 8-year-old girl in Polatli near Ankara. The girl, who had been missing for a week, was reportedly tortured, sexually abused and strangled to death. On July 8, a 2-year-old boy was found dead outside his village in the southeastern province of Bitlis a day after he went missing. Also on July 8, the security forces recovered the body of a speech-handicapped 6-year-old boy in a mountainous area in the southern province of Hatay, about a week after he vanished while in the company of a mentally challenged relative.
The problem of missing kids is not new for Turkey. Gamze Akkus Ilgezdi, a lawmaker for the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), last week submitted a proposal for a parliamentary inquiry on the issue. According to Ilgezdi, an average of 32 children go missing every day in the country.
Why, then, is a long-overlooked problem now becoming a top item in the news? To put it briefly, media organizations in Turkey have begun to change their editorial policies. News about social problems are bound to gain weight in the coming period because they carry little political risk.
Yet the increasing focus on neglected or abused children is positive, regardless of the reason. Persistent media coverage of cases of missing children could raise sensitivity on the issue, not only among the public but also among politicians. Two years ago, a proposal for a parliamentary inquiry into the problem, submitted by a deputy from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), failed to materialize, as members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) voted against the move.
