Justice for the Deaths of Children and Young People
In provinces of Turkey where the Kurdish population is concentrated, childhood unfolds under the shadow of militarization. From the presence of armored vehicles in the streets to the ongoing risks posed by unexploded ordnance, the security-oriented order that permeates daily life has become normalized.
Under the insecure conditions, the right to life of numerous children and young people was violated between 2000 and 2015. The cases we examined show that these violations often occurred in the ordinary flow of everyday life, such as during home raids, on the way to school, on a balcony in their mother’s arms, while herding animals, or while attending a funeral.
Context
Our research demonstrates that violations against Kurdish children and young people were not isolated incidents, but rather the result of a security paradigm shaped in the 1990s and transformed yet sustained throughout the 2000s. Although the state of emergency (OHAL) was lifted in 2002, the period between 2000 and 2015 can be described as an interval of “neither war nor peace,” during which security-centered practices continued. While open clashes appeared to decrease, the structural dynamics that fueled conflict remained intact, and the state continued to frame the region as a permanent security problem.
Within this framework, threats to the right to life of children and young people became invisible and normalized within the broader security order that enveloped everyday life
How did the violations occur?
Although child and youth deaths occurred in different locations and circumstances, they reveal similar patterns. Our interviews with relatives of those who lost their lives and legal data show that these deaths were not sudden or unforeseeable accidents. Rather, they occurred at moments when security policies intersected with daily life. Spaces expected to be safe for children and young people. However, homes, streets, fields, and school routes became sites of lethal risk.
We identified the main causes of child and youth deaths during this period as follows:
Deaths during security operations: In cases occurring during operations conducted by law enforcement and military forces, children and young people lost their lives either by being directly targeted or as a result of the way operations were planned and executed. Fatal force was used during home raids, street searches, and military operations without due regard for the protection of civilians. These cases indicate that operations were not designed with the protection of human life as a priority.
Deaths following allegations of “failure to heed a warning to stop”: In this category, children and young people were shot by law enforcement officers at checkpoints, while walking in the street, or during ordinary daily movement, on the grounds that they allegedly failed to comply with a warning to stop. Legal analysis shows that in the majority of these cases, lethal force was used without adhering to the principles of absolute necessity and last resort.
Deaths during interventions in assemblies and demonstrations: Children and young people lost their lives as a result of firearms, tear gas canisters, and other intervention tools used during mass protests and public gatherings. These deaths occurred during funerals, holiday celebrations, marches, and demonstrations, revealing that simply being present in public space had become a life-threatening risk for children and youth.
Deaths caused by landmines and unexploded military ordnance: Landmines laid largely in the 1990s and unexploded ordnance left in the field continued to pose lethal risks years later along school routes, in grazing areas, and in spaces used in daily life. These cases indicate the systematic failure of the state to fulfill its obligation to protect life and prevent foreseeable risks.
Deaths caused by armored vehicles: The widespread use of armored vehicles in urban centers led to fatal collisions and crushing incidents during protests or routine daily movement, forming another significant category of child and youth deaths.
Who were the children and young people who lost their lives?
These children and young people lived in cities and districts stretching from Adıyaman to Hakkari, from Diyarbakır to Şırnak areas where right-to-life violations in the context of the Kurdish issue have been concentrated. Most were the children of working-class families. Some were primary or high school students; others were preparing for or attending university. Some worked to support their families; some cared for younger siblings. They herded animals, walked to school, played in the streets, danced at weddings, recited poetry, dreamed about their futures. In short, they lived ordinary lives.
We compiled this information through in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted with the families of 40 children and young people whose right to life was violated, as part of our field research. During these interviews, families shared with us not only how the violations occurred, but also who the children they lost were, offering first-hand testimony about their lives.
Who is responsible, and what does responsibility mean?
In cases where the right to life of children and young people was violated, law enforcement officers emerge as actors bearing direct responsibility. Our legal research shows that most of these violations occurred during security operations and interventions in which lethal force was used without adhering to the principles of absolute necessity, proportionality, and last resort. Opening fire on the grounds of alleged non-compliance with a warning to stop, the use of lethal tools during public interventions, failure to clear landmines and unexploded ordnance, and the uncontrolled use of armored vehicles in civilian areas constitute the primary patterns of violations that are carried out under the responsibility of military and law enforcement personnel.
However, as our legal research emphasizes, responsibility is not limited to the public officials who directly committed the acts. In relation to the right to life, the state bears positive obligations not only to refrain from violations but also to protect life, prevent foreseeable risks, and conduct effective investigations into alleged violations. In the cases examined, these obligations were systematically neglected. In particular, the requirement of administrative authorization to initiate investigations against law enforcement and military personnel, delays in investigations, failure to collect or effectively assess evidence, and trials that last for years demonstrate violations of the principle of effective investigation.
Why justice?
The deaths of children and young people represent irreversible losses for those left behind and leave deep wounds. These violations also point to a broader social inequality regarding whose lives are protected and whose are not, and to the erosion of shared trust in how and for whom justice functions. Each death that remains unpunished reinforces the perception that similar violations may recur, transforming the demand for justice from an individual claim into a collective struggle.
In cases of widespread and systematic violations such as child and youth deaths, justice cannot be reduced solely to the punishment of perpetrators. Ensuring accountability and bringing those responsible before the courts are the indispensable part of the pursuit of justice. Yet even when criminal proceedings are initiated, legal processes remain focused on individual guilt and responsibility; they cannot fully address the social, emotional, and historical dimensions of the harm experienced.
Our research and fieldwork show that for many families, justice means a guarantee that similar losses will not happen again. This expectation requires us to think of justice simultaneously as accountability and as a process of social healing and transformation.
In this context, justice must include making the truth visible; recognizing the experiences of victims and their relatives; ensuring that these losses find a place in public memory; and questioning the conditions that made these violations possible. Without speaking about the causes, patterns, and consequences of right-to-life violations without confronting them and transforming the structures that produced them lasting peace and social repair are not possible.
What do we demand?
For this reason, our demand for justice regarding child and youth deaths is multidimensional:
- The truth about right-to-life violations must be uncovered.
- Impunity must end through effective and independent investigations.
- The needs and demands of victims and their relatives must be recognized and addressed.
- These losses must be remembered and secured within public memory.
Hafıza Merkezi approaches child and youth deaths not as events confined to the past, but as a structural issue that continues to shape the present and the future. We believe that justice must be built not only in courtrooms, but also in society’s collective conscience and memory.
For this reason, through Justice Heals, we invite reflection on the demand for justice not merely as a legal expectation directed at the state, but as a shared social responsibility that makes recognition and transformation possible.
