Turkish court increases prison sentences in religious community child abuse case

Osman Çaklı / Gazete Duvar

A Turkish court on Sept. 23 announced verdicts in the shocking child abuse case involving the religious İsmailağa community.

The verdicts have been announced in the case regarding the sexual abuse of Yusuf Ziya Gümüşel’s daughter H.K.G. at the age of six by “marrying her to Kadir İsekli in a religious ceremony” at the Hiranur Foundation affiliated with the İsmailağa community.

Gümüşel was the leader of the foundation. 

The court sentenced İsekli to 21 years for sexual abuse and 15 years for serial sexual assault. Gümüşel was sentenced to 18 years and 9 months for accessory to sexual abuse.

The court ruled to separate the file of H.K.G.’s mother and arrest her in the meantime. 

The hearing at Istanbul’s Anatolian 2nd High Criminal Court was closed to the press. The Left Feminist Movement held a press statement at the courthouse prior to the trial.

Seval Keleş, who read the statement on behalf of the Left Feminist Movement, which follows all hearings, said that they wake up to the news of femicides and child abuse every day. 

Keleş continued, “The sects that have infiltrated every area have become hell for women and children. Just like H.K.G. She was systematically abused within the so-called "sacred family" since she was 6 years old. But she did not surrender to this darkness. She demanded an account of her life from the sect system.”

“We have also become a part of H.K.G.'s struggle. Because her struggle is the struggle of all the children and women whose lives have been stolen. It is the struggle of all of us,” she said. 

Keleş added that they expected today’s ruling to serve as a deterrent in the future. 

“Until today, the way for abuse has been paved with reward-like punishments. Men have not refrained from committing violence and subjecting people to abuse with the self-confidence that nothing would happen to them anyway. Enough with your impunity policies,” she concluded.

What happened?

The scandal erupted when H.G.K., now 24 and divorced, filed a criminal complaint about her parents.

The woman said that in 2004, her father and her mother had “married her off” at the age of six with İstekli. She said that she had been sexually abused throughout her childhood.

A parliamentary research commission held a hearing with Education Ministry officials to understand why H.G.K.’s absence from primary school was not detected by authorities.

All children in Turkey start their primary education at the age of 6, and they must attend school regularly. Parents who do not register their children in schools are fined.

A decision hearing of the case was held on October 23, 2023, where the court sentenced İstekli to 30 years, father Gümüşel to 20 years, and mother Gümüşel to 16 years and 8 months in prison. 

The 20th Criminal Chamber of the Istanbul Regional Court of Justice overturned the decision, stating that the sentence given to the defendants should be increased, and requested a retrial.

(English version by Ayşenaz Toptaş)