Türkiye Detains Teenagers. How Low Will Erdogan Fall? | Opinion

Fifteen girls aged between 13 and 17 have been detained. They will be brought to court to testify against their older siblings and parents as part of a political witch hunt in Turkey if the world does not react and send a signal to the Turkish courts and the Ministry of Justice that this situation is unacceptable.

Unacceptable, but not surprising. Every time you think the authoritarian Turkish government under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan can’t sink any lower, it somehow finds a way. Erdogan has spent the past year engaging in the repression of his law-abiding citizens for belonging—or even suspected belonging—to Hizmet, a peaceful civil society movement that Erdogan has designated a terrorist organization. Under the auspices of this smear, Erdogan’s regime has made an art of pitting families against each other.

Unfortunately, I know this story firsthand. Turkey imprisoned my father to pressure me, one of their most outspoken critics, and kidnapped the relatives of Fethullah Gülen, the inspiration for Hizmet. Tens of thousands of innocent people have been persecuted, fired, imprisoned, and even tortured.

Now they are forcing teenage girls in Turkey to testify in court against their parents and older siblings, a dangerous violation of civil liberties and human rights.

In the early morning hours of May 7, following orders from Istanbul’s chief prosecutor to search for a “child involved in crime,” police detained 15 girls “for information purposes,” forcibly searched their homes, and held them in custody for nearly 16 hours, during which they were treated like criminals, denied legal representation, and subjected to psychological pressure. The UN Guiding Principles on Justice in Cases Involving Child Victims and Witnesses emphasize that children should be treated with respect and compassion, taking into account their age, maturity, and individual circumstances.

The detention and interrogation also violated Turkish legal provisions and certainly affected the mental state of the girls themselves.

But despite being mistreated during their detention, the girls’ saga did not end with their release late last night. In the coming week, they will be called to testify against their families, who have been wrongly accused of involvement in so-called “terrorist activities” — namely, collaborating with Hizmet, a movement focused on humanitarianism, education, and interfaith tolerance. It is worth noting that no Western country has fallen for Turkey’s tactic of abusing anti-terrorist laws for political purposes.

It is the latest example of a broader pattern of discrimination against Hizmet members dating back to the failed coup attempt in Turkey in 2016. Despite uncertainty about the coup’s organizers, Turkish authorities have used it as a pretext to close down 3,520 Hizmet entities and confiscate their assets, including 147 media organizations, 1,284 schools, 800 dormitories, 54 hospitals and 1,125 foundations. More than 690,000 people have been charged and more than 122,000 people have been convicted.

Turkey’s flexible interpretation of terrorism has led to arbitrary actions that violate legal principles and individual freedoms, from arbitrary detentions to obstructing legal representation and criminalizing harmless social and religious practices. A 2021 Amnesty International report found that Turkish authorities have “weaponized” counterterrorism legislation to target civil society organizations. That same year, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention noted that widespread detention practices in Turkey that violate international norms could be classified as crimes against humanity.

And this arbitrary application of “terrorism” even applies to minors under the age of 18. Between 2015 and 2021, the last year for which we have data from the Turkish Ministry of Justice, 15,258 children were tried for terrorism-related crimes. Although data for specific age groups has not been released as of 2021, estimates suggest that close to 20,000 children have been charged with similar offences. At least 3,763 of these children have been convicted, and 2,225 of them were convicted under Article 314 of the Turkish Penal Code for belonging to or leading an armed organisation. In addition, 1,614 children have received prison sentences.

In any case, it’s just ridiculous. In the case of the incident involving the 15 girls, the allegations in the 529-page indictment by the investigating prosecutor largely focus on everyday activities, such as socializing, mentoring younger students, paying for housing or distributing food aid.

According to the June indictment, the main accusation is that 12 female university students voluntarily gave English and religious education lessons to high school and junior high school children in four different homes in Istanbul. These educational activities were conducted with the consent of the students’ parents, while the women also organized religious and social gatherings among themselves.

However, these actions are interpreted as evidence of terrorist involvement.

To better understand the situation of these girls and their desire to find community, consider this: the families targeted face social exclusion, which leads them to form bonds primarily within the marginalized community. Ironically, when they support each other and their children form friendships, these interactions are often seen as “terrorist” collaborations. For these young people, this is a no-win situation: they are excluded from the wider community and left to their own devices, socializing only with peers who have been similarly blacklisted by the government. But when they do, they are accused of criminal activity.

This travesty of justice has led to several human rights violations, including the rights to liberty and security, freedom of religion, freedom of association, and the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment. In addition, the coercive interrogation of minors, threats against children, and the arbitrary detention of family members constitute serious violations of international human rights standards.

Children should never be forced to testify in cases that are intended to criminalize innocent people, much less their family members.

There are countless tragedies in the world—human rights and otherwise—competing for attention, but the international community cannot allow this one to go unnoticed. It needs, at the very least, international attention and monitoring. Better still, an investigation under international supervision into the unlawful detention and abuse of these girls.

If the Turkish government once again gets away with violating the rights of its own citizens, it will mean that it will push for even lighter sentences in the future. I call on bar associations, human rights observers and international organizations to send a message to the Turkish courts and the Minister of Justice that their actions against minors violate so many international treaties and are a disgrace to humanity.

Enes Kanter Freedom (@EnesFreedom) was a center for the Boston Celtics in the National Basketball Association. He is a Turkish dissident and human rights activist.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author.