The prosecutor's office of Lice has ruled lack of grounds for legal action in the case against some gendarmerie officers who denied access to the scene of the killing of 14-year-old Ceylan Önkol in an explosion on 28 September 2009. Ceylan was grassing sheep in the village of Şenlik, in Diyarbakır's Lice district, when she was killed, allegedly by a mortar shell.

Following Önkol's murder which still remains unidentified, 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.

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.