Journalist threatened after reporting on alleged child abuse by security officers in Van

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Rights groups in Turkey's eastern province of Van held a joint press conference today (January 11) to announce support for a journalist who was threatened after reporting on alleged child abuse by law enforcement officers and village guards.

Journalist Oktay Candemir had reported on two separate incidents where 9 and 13-year-old children were allegedly raped in the districts of Gürpınar and Çatak.

Incidetns of child abuse and rape have been on the increase in the city in recent years, said Mehmet Karataş, Human Rights Association (İHD) chair in Van.

Applications about such incidents have shown that the perpetrators are mostly public officials, law enforcement officers and village guards, he said.

The incidents that the journalist reported on were not individual incidents but "rights violations committed under the armor of impunity," said Karataş.

They will provide legal support to both children who suffered violations and journalists who were threatened for reporting on them, he added.

Death threats

Also speaking at the press conference, journalist Candemir said the perpetrators in both cases were armed village guards.

"The duty of journalists is to inform the public and provide necessary information. Within this framework, we made our reports. However, these guards, who have the freedom to commit crimes, threatened me with death on social media," said Candemir.

Village guards are an armed force whose members are recruited locally to support the army against "terror threats," mainly in the country's predominantly Kurdish-populated regions.

'Children are seen as terrorists'

The Van representative of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV/HRFT), Sevim Çiçek, said, "We can't talk about democracy in a country where press freedom does not exist."

Saying that law enforcement officers comfortably commit crimes because of impunity, Çiçek remarked, "Public officials have to do their duties within the determined limits ... Otherwise, we'll face a very dangerous situation.

The chair of the Lawyers for Freedom Association (ÖHD) Van Branch, Medeni Gür, who follows cases of child abuse, said, "Especially in the trial phase, children who are victims of abuse are seen as 'terrorists' while the perpetrators present themselves as 'patriots' and wear the armor of impunity." (AS/VK)