Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Kurds Call for Release of Children from Turkish Jails

Peter Marshall | 12.03.2010 22:03 | Repression | Social Struggles

Around a hundred people protested this afternoon (12 March) outside the Turkish Embassy in London against the 8 year sentence for 15 year old Berivan Sayaca for allegedly throwing stones at police vehicles during a demonstration. Photos (C) 2010 Peter Marshall, all rights reserved.

Turkish Embassy Protest
Turkish Embassy Protest

Turkish Embassy Protest
Turkish Embassy Protest

Turkish Embassy Protest
Turkish Embassy Protest

Turkish Embassy Protest
Turkish Embassy Protest

Turkish Embassy Protest
Turkish Embassy Protest

Turkish Embassy Protest
Turkish Embassy Protest


The protest was organised by the Free Berivan Committee and most of those taking part on a damp Friday afternoon were from the Kurdish community in London. As well as placards demanding Berivan's release, some had pictures of Turkish atrocities, while others waved flags with an image of Abdullah Ocalan, held in solitary confinement on a Turkish island since 1999, and recognised by many Kurds as the leader of the Kurdish people.

The protesters demanded that Turkey recognise its obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and release the fifteen year old Kurdish girl Berivan Sayaca and all other Kurdish children currently held in Turkish jails.

Turkey has over the years been the worst violator of the 47 states that have signed the ECHR, responsible for roughly one fifth of all violations. In 2009 there were 347 negative rulings against Turkey, 21% of the total, most commonly for violating the right to a fair trial, although there were 30 condemnations for inhumane or degrading treatment.

Kurds are treated as second-class citizens in Turkey, and suffer disproportionately from injustice and abuse. Berivan was detained at a rally in support of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) last October in Batman, a city in southeast Turkey.

Berivan denies throwing stones and has stated she was not a part of the demonstration but had simply stopped to watch on her way to visit her aunt. She is reported as saying "When they arrested me they beat me up a lot. I don't understand why they treated me like this. I am very upset here, I am in pain here" and she confessed to the crimes of throwing stones, attending the unlawful meeting and spreading propaganda for an illegal organisation only after these beatings.

She was tried under anti-terror legislation introduced in 2006, which allows courts to try juveniles as adults and pass sentences up to 50 years. Here original sentence of 13 1/2 years was reduced on appeal to 7 years 9 months because of her age. She is just one of 737 minors who have been charged under these anti-terror laws, and just one of 2,622 children currently held in Turkish jails.

More pictures on Demotix:
 http://www.demotix.com/news/274169/kurds-demand-release-girl-turkish-jail

and soon on My London Diary
 http://mylondondiary.co.uk/2010/03/mar.htm

Peter Marshall
- e-mail: petermarshall@cix.co.uk
- Homepage: http://mylondondiary.co.uk

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech