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 14, 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.
İSİG General Coordinator Murat Çakır earlier said the reason for the large number of fatalities in work-related accidents has to do with the policies of the AKP, which he said aim to turn Turkey into a source of cheap labor for Europe.
According to Çakır, workers feel obliged to work under unsafe conditions, fearing that they will otherwise be unable to support their family.
İSİG began to keep track of occupational fatalities in 2011. The group records the number of workers who die due to the lack of workplace safety and campaigns for stricter workplace safety measures.
A yearly report produced by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) on labor rights revealed that Turkey is one of the 10 worst countries in the world for workers in industrial sectors. According to the Brussels-based ITUC, workers’ freedoms and rights have been further denied since police crackdowns on protests in Turkey in 2025.
