TURKEY: The Turkish parliament has launched an investigation into reports of abuse at a state-run orphanage, the latest in a string of allegations of physical and sexual violence at such facilities that have rocked Turkey in recent weeks.
The accusations against the orphanage in Malatya province were reported on Tuesday by the private Star TV channel, which showed footage of children being beaten and cursed at by female caregivers.
In one shot, a woman was shown knocking together the heads of two little boys before pushing them to the ground. In another, a group of small boys and girls were stripped naked and hosed down with what was described as scalding water. When one of the children complained, the caregiver was shown hitting him on the head with a fist-sized stone.
The images, broadcast repeatedly since nationwide, have provoked an outcry.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday termed the alleged abuse "a crime against humanity" and vowed that "those who are responsible will be punished". His administration launched its own investigation on Wednesday.
Nimet Çubukçu, the minister in charge of women and children's affairs, recently disclosed that 478 cases of sexual abuse in state-run orphanages and juvenile rehabilitation centres had been reported over the past five years.
Ms Çubukçu, who blamed the Malatya case on local officials, has been under intense opposition pressure to resign.
The extent of ill treatment at state facilities was chillingly documented in a September 28th report prepared by Mental Disability Rights International, a Washington-based advocacy group.
The result of a two-year undercover investigation, the report describes how young children were left to languish for years in a state of virtual inactivity, many of them tied down to beds, provided inadequate food and water, and drenched in their own vomit.
At Saray, the largest state-run rehabilitation centre, located near Ankara, the group's investigators found emaciated children, some with plastic water bottles duct-taped over their hands to prevent them from biting their fingers.
"A little girl, who looked to be about two years old, was crying and squirming in her crib," wrote one investigator. "A full bottle of formula was lying in the corner of her crib, just out of reach. I watched for over an hour and no one came to feed her."
Özlem Çerçioglu, a lawmaker from the main opposition Republican People's Party, said she had presented a report to the parliament on abuses at Saray a year ago but that the government "did not take us seriously".
In Malatya, social workers say they had repeatedly warned local officials of the abuses at the local care centre, where children up to six years old are placed. "This has been going on for years, but they did nothing," social worker Ece Buldan told the daily Hurriyet newspaper.
Turkish media reported that forensic experts who had examined children at the Malatya shelter for the Erdogan administration found bruises and cuts on nearly half of 46 children there.
Five women have been arrested in connection with the Malatya case so far. Eight administrators, including the centre's director, have been suspended pending the outcome of the administration's investigation. - (LA Times-Washington Post service)