Cahide Harputlu/JINHA

AMED – After a 16-year-old child in Diyarbakır province complained about long term sexual abuse from her father and two older brothers, the court decided not to arrest the three men, claiming a lack of concrete evidence.

Turkish courts continue issuing scandalous decisions in cases of child abuse. A number of recent court decisions in Turkey have involved the claim that children as young as 13 "consented" to sexual abuse.

Recently, a 16-year-old high school student in Diyarbakır province told her school counselor that her father and two older brothers had sexually abused her over the last two years. The prosecutor in the district of Çermik, where the family lives, started an investigation into the girl's father and one of the brothers. The third, who is currently serving in the military, has not yet been summoned before the court.

The Çermik court, after reviewing the testimony of the girl and the two men, ruled that there was "no concrete evidence" in the case. Based on this, the court decided to try the men without arresting them. The survivor, fearing retaliation from the family, has requested to be placed in a facility for children.

"I explained everything; now I can't go back. My family could hurt me," the abuse survivor said. "My step-uncle is currently living at large because he killed a woman recently. I'm really scared."

The Turkish state has also come under fire for not providing protective services to women and children. A woman in the Diyarbakır province town of Ergani was recently killed by her husband in front of her children's eyes, despite the fact that the state was supposed to be protecting her in a woman's shelter in the area.

(zd/fk/cm)