Mardin İHD branch head Erdal Kuzu complained that the Counterterrorism Act continues to victimize youths, noting: “A total of 13 minors who are in Midyat Prison now are being accused of having links with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party [PKK]. These minors are being kept in jail for throwing stones in illegal demonstrations.”Stressing that these minors, who have become victims of the Counterterrorism Act, are deprived of any counseling and stay in the same wards as adults, Kuzu said there are 560 inmates in Midyat Prison, which has a capacity to accommodate 250 people.
According to the İHD, more than 15,000 minors have stood trial on charges of terrorism since 2006. The Counterterrorism Act currently allows minors to be tried and sentenced as adults on terrorism-related charges.
Most minors arrested under the Counterterrorism Act are ethnic Kurds. They are detained or arrested while participating in demonstrations or rallies in southeastern and eastern Anatolia. Some of them face prison sentences of up to 25 years for throwing stones at security forces. In 2006, amendments to Article 9 of the Counterterrorism Law allowed suspects between the ages of 16 and 18 to be tried as adults in high criminal courts.
The government prepared a bill to prevent minors from being tried as adults in terrorism-related cases but was forced to shelf it in early December due to heavy opposition from the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
