250,000 cases of child abuse launched in last decade in Turkey

Turkish authorities launched investigations into 250,000 child abuse cases in the last 10 years, the İzmir City Council announced, citing data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK).

Friday March 05 2021 11:03 am

A protestor holds a banner reading 'No to assault, rape, sexual violence, child abuse' in this file photo.

Duvar English

The city council of the Aegean İzmir has announced that 250,000 children have been abused in the last 10 years in Turkey, citing data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK).

“According to TÜİK's 2016 data, the number of cases launched about child abuse in Turkey has tripled in the last 10 years. Some 250,000 children have been abused in the last 10 years,” Nevin Öğütçen, the president of the İzmir City Council's Women Chamber, said during a protest held in the Konak neighborhood on March 4.

She said that public authorities have been “committing a crime” by not fulfilling their duties with regards to these abuse cases and by trying to “persuade children instead of finding the perpetrators.”

She said that judges should not postpone the perpetrators' sentences or give reduced jail terms in these cases.

No official statistics on child abuse have been available in Turkey since 2017, when the TÜIK suddenly stopped releasing data on the issue.

State-run Anadolu News Agency reported in 2019 that 40 million children suffer from abuse globally, but there was no mention of Turkey in the report.