Turkish police detain four Istanbul Municipality workers about child’s death in public park

Duvar English

A Turkish court on May 4 requested the arrest of four Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) employees for the drowning of a five-year-old in one of the municipality parks’ puddles.

The construction pit in the Menekşe Shore Park in Istanbul’s Fatih district was filled with rainwater deep enough to drown Edanur Gezer. 

The court decided to detain two rig operators, one construction worker, and one engineer working at the park regarding the dangerous puddle formation. 

The city police surrounded the puddle with warning signs after the accident.

All four employees were brought to an Istanbul courthouse for questioning, according to reporting by the Demirören News Agency (DHA).

After the April 30 incident, the prosecutor employed an expert group to investigate the safety risks at the park. 

The pit where Edanur drowned was one meter 35 centimeters deep (4 foot 5). The family was having a picnic at the park when the child wandered off and was found dead. 

Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on May 3 commented on the incident, saying “A child died in plain sight due to the lack of very basic precautions.”

Istanbul’s mayor from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Ekrem İmamoğlu, has criticized the government officials for “turning the death of a child into propaganda” while remaining silent about the deaths they have caused.