Children of political prisoners in Turkey are being treated as “potential criminals” and face widespread rights abuses, according to a new report published on Wednesday by Germany-based human rights group Crossborder Jurists (CBJ).
The report, “Being a Child of a Political Prisoner: The Case of Turkey,” draws on official documents and parents’ accounts to detail how the justice system’s approach to political cases disregards the principle of individual criminal responsibility. It argues that criminal law has become a tool of social control, in contradiction to Turkey’s obligations under European and international human rights conventions.
According to CBJ, the violations begin with depriving children of their primary caregivers, a practice described as “cruel” by international human rights bodies. Further impacts include the trauma children experience during their parents’ detention and conviction, social stigmatization, peer bullying, educational failure, poverty and suicide attempts.
The group notes that, unlike international practice, where at least one parent is typically allowed to remain with the child, Turkey often incarcerates both parents simultaneously, particularly in cases linked to the Gülen movement. One striking example is the case of quintuplets whose parents were convicted on alleged Gülen movement links in 2019 and remain in prison despite a subsequent reversal by the Supreme Court of Appeals. At least 498 parents are currently incarcerated at the same time.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement, inspired by the late Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, since corruption investigations in December 2013 implicated him as well as some members of his family and inner circle.
Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and a conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan began to target the movement’s members. He designated the movement as a terrorist organization in May 2016 and intensified the crackdown on it following the abortive putsch in July of the same year that he accused Gülen of masterminding. The movement strongly denies involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
The report also describes the stigmatization faced by children labeled as “terrorists’ kids.” In one case, H. Atayün was denied admission to several public schools solely because his father, Anadolu Atayün, was one of the police chiefs who led the 2013 corruption investigations.
CBJ points also to the recent “Girls’ Trial,” where routine social and religious activities were prosecuted as terrorism-related activity, revealing how the judiciary and administrative bodies have become instruments of “official bias.”
The “Girls’ Trial” involved terrorism charges against 41 women, including 14 minor girls, over routine religious and educational activities allegedly linked to the faith-based Gülen movement. The indictment cited Quran study, praying, tutoring, bowling, attending social gatherings and living in shared apartments as evidence of terrorism. An İstanbul court convicted 19 defendants in September.
Scientific studies cited by the report show that children of prisoners face higher risks of mental health problems and often perform below their peers. Stress symptoms after prison visits including silence, withdrawal or excessive agitation are common. Bullying, discriminatory treatment by teachers and inflammatory political discourse further deepen their trauma, in some cases pushing children as young as 10 toward suicide.
CBJ notes that while Turkish law allows postponement of sentences for pregnant women and mothers of infants, these protections are rarely applied in political cases. Children up to age 6 may stay with their mothers in prison under Law No. 5275, but rights groups stress that women under investigation or trial should not be arrested at all.
The human rights group calls for a return to the rule of law, respect for individual criminal responsibility, child-centered enforcement of criminal sentences and comprehensive psychosocial support for affected children.
A report by the Stockholm Center for Freedom, titled “Family Punishment in Turkey: How Erdoğan Uses the Nazi Practice of Sippenhaft,” focuses on the targeting of children and other relatives of political detainees as a contemporary form of collective punishment. It traces the practice to the historical doctrine of Sippenhaft — used in Nazi Germany to penalize families for a relative’s alleged wrongdoing — and says similar patterns are now visible in Turkey’s post-coup prosecutions.
