Four years ago today 14 years old Ceylan Önkol went out to tend the family sheep in the village of Xambaz. Villagers said there was a sound in the air followed by an explosion. Shortly after the explosion Ceylan was found dead with her midsection shredded.

The scene villagers found in front of their eyes was horrendous: body parts were scattered over 150m with some landing in the branches of nearby trees. Despite the massive damage to her midsection witnesses say her legs and feet as well as her arms, hands and head were relatively uninjured.

The authorities were contacted and the family waited at the scene for what they expected to be military security forces, a doctor, and the local prosecutor. Nobody arrived. After six hours of waiting the family was informed that the doctor and prosecutor would also not be coming because they feared for their safety.

The village Imam had been instructed to take photographs of the scene and the family was asked to gather the girl's remains and bring them to the police station in Bingöl province where an autopsy could be performed. According to local protocol the prosecutors should have conducted the autopsy at the scene.

The Human Rights Association (IHD) stressed that the prosecutor did eventually arrive: it was three days later and it was then he conduct his "investigation".

Ceylan Önkol's mother at the time cried out: "My Ceylan was torn to pieces. Why was my child killed for no reason? Who is going to answer for this?"

MAZLUMDER (Organization of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed People) remembered Ceylan today in an emotional press conference in Diyarbakır.

Here they reiterated the need for truth and justice and the family, local media, and NGOs belief from the beginning that a mortar round, possibly fired from a nearby military base, hit Ceylan.

The inquest which followed ruled out Ceylan could have been killed by a mortar round, opting instead for the "accidental" explosion caused by Ceylan herself who might have detonated a device left on the ground. But the family knows this was not the case.

In another development on the difficult search for truth and justice, on 6 April 2013 the prosecutor's office of Lice ruled lack of grounds for legal action in the case against some gendarmerie officers who denied access to the scene of the killing of Ceylan Önkol.

Following Önkol's murder, the Prosecutor's Office in Lice filed a criminal investigation against several gendarmerie officers for “failing to perform their duty" by not allowing ice Public Prosecutor Mustafa Kamil Çolak to go to the village after the explosion for security reasons. However, the Prosecutor's Office has announced on Thursday that it dismissed the investigation on the lack of grounds for legal action on Önkol's killing.

Rehşan Bataray, a lawyer for the Önkol family, said that the non-performance of any judicial process against those responsible made them expect nothing positive in the case after that point.

Ceylan's father Raif Önkol strongly criticized the dismissal of the investigation, saying, “I fail to understand what it is they have been looking for but unable to find for four years now. All we want is the punishment of those responsible. He underlined that they would not give up their legal struggle for justice.

Children, victims of war
At least 609 child deaths were caused in Turkey in 2012 by the dereliction of duty or negligence of state officials, says the recently released “Child's Right to Life” 2012 report by the Agenda Child Association. The association has concluded that poverty, deprivation, discrimination and racism are the main factors leading to the violations of children's right to life. According to the association, these factors also lead to an increase in the number of child brides and child workers, while on the other hand subjecting more and more children to the environment of armed or unarmed violence.

Celal Musaoğlu,the chairman of the association, said that children in Turkey suffered violations of the right to life as well as violations of their right to health, education, safe environment, language and culture, participation and leading a safe and dignified life.

According to the report, 46 children died in 2012 due to injuries dealt by security forces during demonstrations, explosions of land mines and military ammunition, armed clashes, extrajudicial executions and negligence by public officials responsible for health and education services.

The report says 563 children were killed as a result of state officials' failure to perform their duty to provide a safe environment for minors in cases of individual firearms, suicide and natural disasters.

A total of 38 children died in workplace accidents, while at least 20 others lost their life in educational environments.

On the other hand, as many as 40 from other countries children died within Turkish borders for various reasons.