Turkey's crisis: Why is violence against children ignored?

"Dainty," "sensitive," "tender," "fragile": That is how Narin's name can be translated into English. Her case has topped the headlines in Turkish media for weeks.

This 8-year-old girl from the village of Tavsantepe, near Diyarbakir in the southeast of the country, was reported missing several weeks ago; her dead body was found in a sack on September 8 beside a nearby river.

The case shook the entire country, with countless reports and comments on social media. Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc visited the Kurdish village, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has promised on X, formerly Twitter, that whoever is guilty of the crime will be brought to justice. Both said the perpetrator, or perpetrators, would receive "the harshest punishment."

One reason for the nationwide outrage is that the entire village of 550 inhabitants has refused to say anything. Several members of Narin's family — including her parents — are under suspicion and are in custody. Altogether 12 people have been arrested so far, among them Narin's uncle, the village head of Tavsantepe.

Forensic doctors have said the girl was strangled. The public is of the opinion that someone from this village must know who murdered Narin — but no one is saying a word.

"Turkey is facing a complex case. The murderer is being sheltered by the family of the victim and the people close to it," said Halis Dokgoz, a forensic doctor and director of the Child Protection Center at Mersin University.

The region where Narin lived is rather traditional and conservative, and the society is based on tribal structures. In such communities, children are often "objectivized," meaning their deaths are played down, Dokgoz said. Mostly, the perpetrator in such cases is someone that the child already knows," he added.

More than 100,00 children reported missing from 2008 to 2016

Narin's isn't an isolated case. According to the FISA Children Rights Center, at least 64 children were murdered over the past 2 1/2 years, often as a result of domestic violence. The center collects its data from publicly accessible sources.

Turkish authorities have not published official data on killed or missing children since 2016. The most recently published statistics show that 104,531 children were reported missing across the country in the period from 2008 to 2016. This makes it unclear today not only how many cases there have been since then, but also how many of these children have been found so far — dead or alive.

Experts have criticized the lack of transparency and preventive policies in this area and called for the systematic collection and publication of information on missing children. "To bring about a political solution to the problem, we need data," said Ezgi Koman of FISA. 

She said the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has been appealing for years to Turkish authorities to provide the relevant information. "If they do have data but are keeping it secret, that would mean that they do not want to be held accountable. Or they want to prevent people from knowing how serious the situation is. Or the children just don't matter to them," said Koman.

DW confronted the Turkish Ministry of Family and Social Services and the Turkish Statistical Institute with these statements, but has so far received no relevant response.

The opposition has submitted a parliamentary inquiry to the government, and also received no reply. The 15-day deadline for an answer to be given expired on Thursday, September 19.

Among other things, the opposition wanted to know how many children have been reported as missing since 2016. According to statistics in the hands of the opposition, there must be more than 10,000. Burhanettin Bulut, a politician from the opposition Republican People's Party, said the lack of transparency in this matter was a "disgrace" for the government.

Society needs to 'teach children what rights they have'

If such data were available, forensic doctors, social workers, psychologists and police could develop strategies to possibly prevent such cases, said Dokgoz.

At present, we know nothing at all. We follow up on a case only after it has been made public. And when we do so, we focus only on the question: 'Who is the murderer?' That is wrong," said Dokgoz. He feels authorities lack the motivation to come up with sustainable solutions to prevent such cases.

Sahin Antakyalioglu, the coordinator of the Child Advocates Network, is of the same opinion. He says there should be a publicly available warning system with all data and "a basic, solution-oriented policy" for child protection. This would include an easily accessible help hotline that all children can call, whether they live in a city or in a village, he said. And, Antakyalioglu added, there should also be "an education system to teach children what rights they have."

There is "no sense in giving a child rights if the child is not aware of them," he said. "Do we tell children where they can report it if someone touches them? We have to start teaching them these things even before they go to school."

Children have to be capable of saying when someone forces them to do something," he said. Until Turkey succeeds in taking all these steps, he added, Turkish society will keep being shocked by cases like that of 8-year-old Narin.

This article was originally written in Turkish.