The state is taking away children from their mothers and fathers, who managed to survive the massacre in Sur. The children are put into dormitories without the families’ knowledge or consent.
Oppression of the survivors of the bombardment in Sur is not over yet. Almost every person who managed to get out of Sur alive has been arrested and charged with ‘membership in a terrorist organization’ or ‘attempting to change the constitution by use of arms.’ The state also oppresses families by taking their children away from them.
Seven children, from families that had been arrested for continuing to stay in their houses in Sur, were handed over to Turkish Social Service and Child Protection Institution.
4 of these children reunited with their families after their mothers were released from custody, but 3 children are still forced to stay in dormitories. Remziye Tosun is one of the mothers experiencing this new form of oppression.
NO CONSENT FROM REMZİYE
Mother of 4 children, Remziye Tosun was arrested along with 8 other people with the suspicion of ‘being the member of a terrorist organization.’ Tosun was taken under custody with her one and a half years-old daughter Beritan, and Beritan and Tosun were sent to jail together. The court also handed over Tosun’s 7 years-old daughter Şevin to the Child Protection Institution.
Muharrem Şahin, the lawyer of Remziye Tosun, stated that Şevin was handed over to the aforementioned institution without the consent of Tosun. Şahin noted that Şevin’s grandfather found out that his grandchild was sent to the Child Protection Institution only when he went to the police station in order to retrieve Şevin. Şahin said that Remziye Tosun’ husband Mustafa Tosun had been arrested 4 and a half months ago, and the parents’ relatives were willing to care for the children during the parents’ time in prison. However, the state decided to place these children in state dormitories, just like it had done so with Talat Abiş, the son of Talat and Emine Abiş.
THE TOSUN FAMILY HAD BEEN LIVING IN SUR FOR YEARS
Şahin highlighted that the Tosun family had been living in Sur for years, and the release of the parents was of utmost importance for the well-being and future of their children. Şahin noted that family love was what a child needed the most, and called for the release of children and their parents as soon as possible.
'THEY ARE TRYING TO PRESSURE FAMILIES’
Trade Union of Public Employees in Health and Social Services (SES) Co-President Gönül Erden noted that the state could take children away from their families only when the families demand this or the when they mistreat their children. Erden emphasized that neither of these scenarios was the case for Remziye Tosun, and Tosun’s relatives were happy to care for Şevin but the state purposefully ignored these facts in order to pressure the families. Erden criticized the state forces’ siege of Sur as well as the state’s torture of taking children away from their families.
