Turkish court arrests Islamic highschool teacher for 16 counts of child abuse

Duvar English

A Turkish court has detained high school vice principal K.Ç. after sixteen students from the religious Imam Hatip High School in northern Turkey's Ordu province accused him of abuse.

The school administration initially took written statements from the students. The case was then referred to the prosecutor's office, where the students gave their testimony in the presence of a child psychologist. Some of the 16 male students said they were subjected to verbal abuse, while others reported both verbal and physical sexual abuse.

An investigation into K.Ç. was launched following the students' testimonies, and he was arrested by order of the Fatsa High Criminal Court. K.Ç. was subsequently sent to the local prison, according to a report by the daily BirGün. 

The ruling stated that the act constituted" the crime of "child sexual abuse", and the discretion of the alleged actions falls under the jurisdiction of a higher court. Therefore, the case has been referred to the regional Court of Justice."

While the legal process continued, it was alleged that some officials working at the district municipality pressured the families of the students who filed complaints to withdraw their statements.

A parent of one of the abused students said that they were approached to withdraw their statement. During the meeting, the school administration claimed that their children’s photographs would be exposed, the complaints would be recorded on their files, and it could affect them when they applied for jobs. "They urged us to drop the complaint," the families said. 

K.Ç.'s lawyer declined to answer questions, citing a "confidentiality order" in the case.

It was also revealed that approximately four months before the complaints were filed with the prosecutor’s office, K.Ç. had been temporarily reassigned to another high school while serving as vice principal at the Imam Hatip High School, after an internal investigation was launched by the school administration for "using sexist language toward students."