(ANSAmed) - ANKARA, DECEMBER 20 - The Ministry of Justice and
the Ministry of Family and Social Policy are working together to
have incest defined as a sexual abuse crime in the Turkish Penal
Code (TCK), with a prescribed minimum sentence of 15 years in
prison, as WB website reports. The TCK does not currently
include a separate definition of incest, and this has proven to
be a problem in every phase of legal processes concerning such
cases. Consequently, there is no system to prevent incest or
protect the victims of incestuous relationships. Family and
Social Policy Minister Fatma Sahin met with representatives of
nongovernmental organizations on Tuesday to discuss the matter,
according to the Haberturk daily. The announcement to define
incest as a crime under the TCK was made by Sahin in response to
criticism that parents who sexually abuse children receive minor
punishment because incest itself is not currently punishable by
law. The new regulation seeks to change Articles 103, 104 and
105 of the TCK to define incest as a crime. Data released by the
Gazi University Child Protection Center revealed 498 cases of
the rape or sexual abuse of minors reported to just one child
protection center in Ankara this year. Of these cases, 332 were
defined as sexual abuse, with 71 perpetrators claimed to be the
biological fathers and 48 to be the biological mothers of the
victims. According to data released by the National Police
Department recently, around 400,000 children have been sexually
abused by family members in the last 20 years. Statistics
released as part of a collaborative effort by a number of civil
society organizations in Turkey in 2009 suggest that 4% of all
children in Turkey have been subjected to sexual abuse, with 70%
of the victims younger than 10. The biggest risk faced by
children who run away and live on the streets is sexual
exploitation. Additionally, many children kidnapped in the
southeastern provinces are forced into prostitution in western
Turkey. (ANSAmed).
