Initiative should encompass jailed minors, argue activists

    Scores of protestors under the age of 18 are currently being kept in prison on the grounds that they participated in illegal demonstrations and rallies. They face a risk of being imprisoned for up to dozens of years for “being members of a terrorist organization” and “spreading the cause of a terrorist organization.” Their tragedy, however, has received a strong reaction from civil society organizations, which have urged the government to expand the scope of its democratization initiative in a way to include those minors.

“For me, what those youngsters are facing is injustice and unlawfulness. They release without any punishment militants coming down from the mountains but demand long years of imprisonment for minors who threw stones [at security forces] during demonstrations. Does this have nothing to do with conscience?” asked Öztürk Türkdoğan, chairman of the Human Rights Association (İHD).

Türkdoğan was referring to a group of members of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), who turned themselves in to Turkish security forces earlier this week and was released without any punishment. Thirty-four PKK members said they returned to Turkey to show their support for the government's ongoing efforts to restore peace between the country's Turks and Kurds and end the decades-old Kurdish problem.

A few months ago, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) announced its plan to settle the Kurdish question through peaceful methods that could improve Turkey's democratic standards. Though not officially confirmed, the government plans to grant broader cultural and political rights to the country's Kurdish population.

Turkey has been in an armed fight against the terrorist PKK since 1984, when the Kurdish situation turned violent. More than 40,000 people, including members of the army, terrorists and civilians, have been killed in the fight since then.

“What has led to the current tragedy of young people in prisons is an amendment to the Anti-Terrorism Law in 2006, which was followed by a decision by the Supreme Court of Appeals in 2008 to try minors who participated in illegal demonstrations as members of a terrorist organization. The latter was a totally ideological decision and led to the punishment of many minors as terrorists,” Türkdoğan remarked.

More than 700 minors have been tried under the Anti-Terrorism Law since 2006 on the grounds that they were members of a terrorist organization or participated in illegal demonstrations.

Minors can be sentenced to several years in prison under various articles of the Anti-Terrorism Law. These articles include “spreading the cause of a terrorist organization,” “committing a crime on behalf of a terrorist organization without holding membership,” “resisting police dispersion attempts with weapons or instruments” and “vandalizing public property.”

Amendment to TCK a remedy for juveniles?

The government has been working for the past few months on a bill to amend the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) and save minors from being sentenced to lengthy prison terms. The full context of the bill has not yet been shared with the public, but it aims at allowing those youngsters to be tried in juvenile courts. Minors accused of being members of a terrorist organization or disseminating the cause of a terrorist organization are currently tried at high criminal courts.

“Turkey should clarify its laws. Judges undersign scandalous rulings because of ambiguity in our laws. Article 220 of the TCK, for example, should immediately be amended because it paves the path for heavy punishment for participants in illegal demonstrations. Laws under which juveniles are tried should be revised and amended, if necessary, and all of the minors who are in prison should be re-tried. Turkey has violated the Convention on the Rights of the Child for many years, but it's not too late. We can still make up for our shortcomings,” Türkdoğan said.

Hülya Şekerci, a member of the board of the Freedom Association (Özgür-Der), said the government's initiative should reach young victims of the Anti-Terrorism Law.

“These children are young in age but face long years of imprisonment. The government should protect them from being punished with onerous jail terms. We are going through a peace process. The situation of these youngsters should be improved. We need more hope for a stronger peace. For this, we need urgent amendments to our laws regarding our children. If minors are tried with a demand for such long sentences, then there must be something wrong with our laws. These problems should immediately be eliminated,” Şekerci remarked.

Human Rights Joint Platform (İHOP) General Coordinator Feray Salman said the release of minor inmates charged with membership in a terrorist organization because they hurled stones at security forces would come as support for the government's Kurdish question and would boost hopes that the government will manage to settle the long-standing problem.

"Their release would strengthen people's belief in the initiative. It would also increase confidence in the Turkish justice system. It would have other positive results, as well. It would help many to believe that good things are under way in Turkey," Salman noted.