Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), on Tuesday rejected a parliamentary motion submitted by the IYI (Good) Party aimed at investigating the whereabouts of children who went missing after the February 6, 2023, earthquakes that hit southeastern Turkey.
According to the Tr724 new website’s reporting, families are still searching for missing relatives and loved ones almost a year after the disaster. The İYİ Party during the General Assembly demanded an investigation into how unidentified bodies were buried in the aftermath of the disaster, a complete DNA analysis and a probe into claims of child kidnapping.
In a statement earlier this month, Minister of Family and Social Affairs Mahinur Özdemir had said that “there are no missing children in the aftermath of the earthquakes.” She said the ministry would be pressing charges against anyone who claimed there were children who had been rescued after the earthquakes but had gone missing while they were in state custody.
Opposition deputies contradicted the minister, saying hundreds of families were still searching for missing relatives. In a speech at the assembly, Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) said authorities had failed these families.
“The government is ignoring the cries of these families,” he said. “The victims will soon be declared dead, and then all searches will be halted. But families still have some hope, and they don’t want their relatives to be declared dead without finding their remains.”
Nermin Yıldırım from the Republican People’s Party (CHP) said the minister’s statement was unbelievable as families had been frantically searching for missing loved ones, and especially children, for the last 11 months.
Magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 earthquakes affected 11 provinces in the country’s south and southeast on February 6, killing more than 50,000 people and leaving millions homeless. While the exact number is not known, hundreds of people – including children – are believed to be missing.
Families have been searching for their missing members since day one, scouring hospitals across the country and mass graves in the region in the hope that maybe a relative had been buried without proper identification.
Before unidentified bodies were buried in mass graves, authorities took photographs, collected DNA samples and took fingerprints. Each unidentified victim had a number on their grave. Individuals have to go through the photos and give a sample of their DNA to determine if their family member was buried in such a grave.
Some are concerned that children who survived the disaster may have been kidnapped before their families had a chance to unite with them. Families now are demanding a special parliamentary investigation commission to focus on the issue of missing people.
