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Beating exposes brutal realities for Turkey's street children

Turkey has made tremendous progress in lowing child mortality, but poverty leaves Kurdish and Syrian refugee children vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse.
Syrian refugees who live in the streets stand in a public garden in central Ankara on November 23, 2014. There are about 2 million Syrian refugees who fled the civil war in their country living in Turkey . AFP PHOTO/ADEM ALTAN        (Photo credit should read ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images)

On Jan. 21, at a Burger King in Istanbul's Sirinevler district, an 11-year-old boy named Halil was brutally beaten by the manager of the franchise. A photo of the boy with blood dripping from his face immediately began trending on Turkish social media. Halil is a Syrian refugee. It has become common that groups of three or four refugee kids wait in front of fast food franchises, and as customers leave, some of them give their leftover food to the children or leave their trays with the food and drinks on a table and tell the kids to help themselves. Video of the incident shows that Halil and a few of his friends had run into the restaurant to eat some leftover french fries, and the manager saw them. The manager beat them in front of several customers. One woman in the video becomes visibly upset and challenges the manager. Facing a public uproar, Burger King fired the employee.

Opposition media initially reported the incident under headlines proclaiming that the owner of the franchise is a member of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). This detail did not matter much, however, as pro-AKP media also condemned the child's beating. People from all walks of life commented on social media and on television news broadcasts that it was unacceptable. The reverberating case of Halil in a way became a moment that unified Turkey's divided society. Abdurrahim Boynukalin, president of the AKP’s youth branch, visited Halil’s family and told reporters that he and his siblings will receive assistance to attend school.

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