Following revelations that high school students working at the parliament restaurant were subjected to abuse by staff, one of the children who experienced abuse while interning in the parliament kitchen spoke to bianet about her ordeal.
The 16-year-old high school student began interning in the parliament kitchen in 2024. The child recounted that a 30-year-old chef, who initially addressed her as "sister" later began to subject her to verbal and physical abuse.
"I couldn’t make sense of his behavior in the first few days, but the extent of the harassment increased later," the student said. "He started offering to take me home, asking to meet outside, asking if I drank alcohol, or if I had a boyfriend. He started asking 'Can I kiss you?' inside the kitchen. I was afraid my internship would be canceled, so I couldn't complain at first. I was scared I would be disgraced if I spoke out. It was my first work experience, and I felt ashamed."
Witnesses
When the abuse began to come to light, and as other kitchen staff witnessed the child’s distress, a supervisor, H.A., who is still employed by the parliament, questioned the child, asking "if she had a relationship with the chef in question."
The child described what had happened. Subsequently, statements from the staff who witnessed the events were also taken. After listening to the children, H.A. reportedly told them, "You will tell no one, not even your mother and father will know."
The incident was later covered up, and the child was reassigned to another kitchen within the parliament. After the child’s parents learned of the situation, the matter was taken to the school. Following the guidance counselor’s relaying of the incident to law enforcement, the child’s statement was taken at the Child Monitoring Center. However, no punitive results were achieved during the investigation phase.
'This is not an isolated event'
Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy Turan Taşkın Özer, also a lawyer, told bianet that the inability to ensure the safety of children even within the parliament building "cannot be considered an individual crime or an isolated event."
"This situation is a concrete result of a systemic deficiency; the failure to establish a protective approach that prioritizes the best interests of the child at the institutional level in our country," he said.
He added that when sufficient oversight mechanisms are not in place, "internship and vocational training programs easily create a ground for the exploitation of child labor and their exposure to psychological and physical violence."
Özer pointed out that "the fact that this abuse, which is alleged to have continued for years, has not come to light until now points to another institutional failure that needs to be examined."
'Social decay'
Another figure keeping the issue on the agenda is Peoples' Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party Mardin deputy and psychologist Beritan Güneş. Güneş stated that the truths revealed in the children's testimonies demonstrate the extent of "social decay."
"For years, we have exhausted every possible avenue and method to invite the parliament to work and take action to establish preventive and protective mechanisms against child abuse and neglect. However, we have unfortunately seen nothing more than a few superficial steps," she said, adding, "And we learned with great anger that a young girl—and there are claims that this number is higher—was abused on the lowest floor of the Commission Building where we conduct our legislative activities."
Güneş underlined that the course of action to be followed is clear. "This is not an incident that we can dismiss as 'a regular occurrence.' This incident, which shows everyone the extent of crimes committed against children in our country, should be a lesson for all of us, for everyone.
"As the DEM Party Child Commission, we will follow the issue to the end, and as we always say, 'we will work to build a country that is equal, free, safe, and peaceful for children!'" (NÖ/VK)
