İSTANBUL - Children and Women First Association President Müjde Tozbey said about the delivery of unaccompanied children to foundations: "If the children were not given by the state, this means that the children were kidnapped. If they were given by the state, then Minister Yanık would have committed a crime as well."

 

Thousands of children were injured, disappeared or lost their families in two separate severe earthquakes, the epicenter of which was the Pazarcık and Elbistan districts of Maraş. Some claims about the fate of injured children after their treatment in hospitals created controversy. Children and Women First Association filed a criminal complaint with the Istanbul Beykoz Chief Public Prosecutor's Office on 17 February, after the images supporting the claims that some of the unaccompanied children were placed in a villa in Beykoz, Istanbul. Later, it was learned that the villas belonged to the IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation, which was on the agenda with the transportation of weapons in the trucks sent under the name of "humanitarian aid".

 

The head of the Women and Children First Association, lawyer Müjde Tozbey, spoke about the concerns about the children whose fate is unknown and who were handed over to foundations.

 

'IT IS A CRIME TO SEND CHILDREN TO SECT AND COMMUNITY HOUSES'

 

Stating that the state sends children to sect and community houses with its own hand, Tozbey said: "According to the law, sects and communities have no authority over children. They cannot touch those children in any capacity. If these children were not given by the state, it means that the children were abducted by the people in those houses. This is a crime according to article 334 of the TCK. If these children are given away by the state, they are prosecuted in accordance with Article 109 of the TCK for restricting the freedom of the person. In this case, the officials who gave these children and Minister Derya Yanık will also have committed a crime because they have to be prosecuted for negligence of duty because they handed over the children unlawfully."