Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) lawmaker Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu has criticized the high number of women in Turkish prisons who are accompanied by their young children.
In a video posted on X on Friday, Gergerlioğlu was seen speaking in front of Bafra Prison in northern Samsun province, where he revealed the plight of female inmates imprisoned with their young children.
“I met with a woman who is in prison with her 22-month-old child. As we were speaking, the child got sleepy, and she had to leave,” Gergerlioğlu said. “Prison is no place for a child. The conditions are terrible and fail to meet the needs of babies and young children.”
Another woman was sent to the same prison on Thursday with a 2-month-old infant. Gergerlioğlu said this was unacceptable.
As of the latest count, 759 children are currently living with their mothers in Turkish prisons, despite a law prohibiting the incarceration of mothers with children under 18 months old. According to Law No. 5275, these individuals should be released pending trial.
Although the law is for children under 18 months, human rights advocates in Turkey have been calling for authorities afford leniency to mothers with children under six years of age, saying prison conditions are not suitable for the mental and physical development of children.
A 2022 report published by CİSST found that children were deprived of basic necessities as most prisons do not provide crayons, toys or carpets for crawling babies. Many children do not have their own beds and share their mothers’ food.
Gergerlioğlu said imprisoning mothers with their children causes severe psychological harm and emphasized that at the very least, they should be held in separate wards designed to better accommodate their children’s developmental needs.
“I have argued in parliament that mothers with children should be held under different prison conditions, separate from other inmates. However, they [the ruling Justice and Development Party government] don’t listen and continue to allow this situation. This leads to family tragedies, causing both mothers and children to experience trauma. When we see crying mothers and babies, we, too, feel deeply saddened,” he said.
Gergerlioğlu added that political prisoners suffered the most, since in many cases, both parents were incarcerated. This often meant that fathers and other family members were unable to see the child for years until their eventual release.
The number of children accompanying their mothers in prison skyrocketed in Turkey in the aftermath of a coup attempt on July 15, 2016, when thousands of women were arrested due to their alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement.
The Gülen movement, inspired by the late Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen, is accused by the Turkish government and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of masterminding the failed coup and is labeled a “terrorist organization,” although the movement denies involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
