Turkey’s Ministry of Justice has given what appears to be an inaccurate response to a parliamentary inquiry regarding the number of children accompanying their mothers in prison, the Birgün daily reported.
According to Gamze İlgezdi, the deputy from the Republican People’s Party (CHP) who submitted the inquiry, the ministry claimed they do not have the exact number because “the figure changes daily.”
İlgezdi said this contradicts the Justice Ministry’s earlier claims that the number of children in prison had decreased. “If the claim that the number of children accompanying their mothers in prison changes on a daily basis, it means that there are so many children that they can’t keep track of them,” İlgezdi added. She suggested the number has likely increased and criticized the lack of dedicated facilities for children in prisons, noting that only two exist, in Sincan and Diyarbakır.
The number of children accompanying their mothers in prison skyrocketed in Turkey in the aftermath of a coup attempt in July 2016, when thousands of women were arrested due to their alleged links to the faith based Gülen movement.
There are currently 552 children aged six years and under currently residing in Turkish prisons, according to the Civil Society in the Penal System Association (CİSST).
A 2022 report published by CİSST also found that these children were deprived of basic necessities.
Previous reports have also underlined that Turkish prisons do not accommodate the needs of children and infants. 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.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement, inspired by Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, since the corruption investigations in 2013, which implicated then-prime minister Erdoğan, his family members and his inner circle.
Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan designated the movement as a terrorist organization and began to target its members. He intensified the crackdown on the movement following the abortive putsch in 2016 that he accused Gülen of masterminding. Gülen and the movement strongly deny involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
