The Turkish media in recent weeks has been awash with stories of missing children, some of whom have met a tragic end. On July 2, the body of a 4-year-old girl was found outside a village in the eastern province of Agri, where she had gone missing 18 days before while the family was visiting relatives. On June 30, the security forces dug up the body of an 8-year-old girl in Polatli near Ankara. The girl, who had been missing for a week, was reportedly tortured, sexually abused and strangled to death. On July 8, a 2-year-old boy was found dead outside his village in the southeastern province of Bitlis a day after he went missing. Also on July 8, the security forces recovered the body of a speech-handicapped 6-year-old boy in a mountainous area in the southern province of Hatay, about a week after he vanished while in the company of a mentally challenged relative.
The problem of missing kids is not new for Turkey. Gamze Akkus Ilgezdi, a lawmaker for the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), last week submitted a proposal for a parliamentary inquiry on the issue. According to Ilgezdi, an average of 32 children go missing every day in the country.
