A 14-year-old Syrian boy died Friday after falling from the fifth floor of a construction site in southeastern Turkey, drawing attention to the country’s persistent child labor problem, the Bianet news website reported.
The boy, identified only as Mustafa, was working at a construction site in the southern province of Şanlıurfa when he fell at around 11 a.m., according to statements from the Şanlıurfa Bar Association, a regional body representing lawyers in the province. He died at the scene.
The bar said Mustafa’s death shows that “child labor remains widespread and deadly” in Turkey, where poverty and lack of oversight often force children — especially those from refugee families — into dangerous work.
“A child should be in school, not on a construction site,” the bar association said. “Child labor is not fate — it is neglect.”
Turkey is home to about 2.8 million registered Syrian refugees, according to government data. Labor organizations estimate that tens of thousands of Syrian children work in the informal sector to help support their families.
At least 72 children died while working in Turkey between September 2024 and August 2025, according to a new report by the Health and Safety Labor Watch (İSİG).
The group said the toll had risen about 10 percent from the previous school year.
İSİG reported that deaths were concentrated in cities, a shift from earlier years when rural areas saw the most fatalities. By sector, 20 children died in agriculture, 19 in industry, 17 in construction and 16 in services, the report said.
By age, İSİG found that 11 of the children were younger than 15, below Turkey’s legal working age, and 34 were between the ages of 15 and 17, many of them participating in state-run vocational programs or school internships.
The group linked the trend partly to the expansion of Vocational Education Centers (MESEM), a state-run apprenticeship track that places students in workplaces four days a week. İSİG estimates about 505,000 students are in MESEM and says the program “legitimizes cheap labor.” The group has documented at least 15 student deaths linked to MESEM and seven more during school internships over the past two years.
Under Turkish law, the minimum age for regular employment is 15, though children as young as 14 may take “light work” under certain conditions. Apprenticeship and vocational training schemes, such as MESEM, are allowed from age 14. In contrast, international labor standards set by the United Nations and the International Labour Organization define anyone under 18 as a child and classify many forms of employment before that age as child labor, particularly when the work is hazardous or interferes with schooling.
According to İSİG more than 30,000 occupational accidents have been reported since the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in November 2002.
