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Yet another child, this time, Kerem was killed when a piece of metal he was
playing with exploded. Two other children were injured in the incident.
There is still not sufficient work to educate children against military
mines and abandoned ammunition.
11-year-old Kerem Turan and his 12 year old brother Osman were playing
together with Yilmaz Ertas (11) with a piece of metal they found near a
firing range of Siirt's Eruh district which is used by the Gendarme Regiment
Command and Police Directorate.
An explosion killed Kerem on site and wounded his brother Osman and friend
Yilmaz.
Despite an immediate investigation launched by a prosecutor arriving at the
scene, the nature of the explosive was not clear. A large number of soldiers
and policemen were deployed to the area as reinforcements following the
blast.
When Kerem Turan's family wanted to visit the scene of incident they were
barred by the police and gendarme. A subsequent squabble between the family
and police left behind relatives crying, family members having a nervous
breakdown.
Two children found with anti-aircraft shells
As news of Kerem's death spread throughout the Southeast, in the Bornova
district of Turkey's western coastal city of Izmir, police conducting a body
search on two children aged 13 and 15 found three live anti-aircraft shells
on the minors.
The 20mm Russian made shells were found in a local trash bin and picked up
by the children who treated them as toys.
No one sees the mines or explosives
Muteber Ogreten, from the Initiative for a Turkey Without Mines says both
incidents reflect an ongoing problem in Turkey where sufficient education
and awareness is not provided to children against left-over ammunition and
mines.
The initiative itself prepared a special awareness poster for children using
international visual aids which, under the title "Don't Touch Mines or
Explosives! Let Adults Know" was supposed to be distributed to various
schools in regions that are exposed to the threat.
The Parliament Human Rights Commission had undertaken the poster's
responsibility, the Interior Ministry and Ministry of Education had approved
it and the Parliament itself had put ot in print.
Last May, the posters were sent to 11 provinces where mine incidents have
been recorded, to be distributed in a number of schools: Agri (670), Batman
(392), Bingol (335), Bitlis (393), Diyarbakir (1070), Elazig (430), Hakkari
(250), Siirt (341), Sirnak (250), Tunceli (47) and Van (794).
No posters reach Siirt
Ogreten says the Initiative wanted the posters to reach the schools before
holidays so an awareness among the children could be created "but there have
been some delays in the posters reaching the schools and we have learned
that unfortunately some schools, such as those in Siirt, have not received
the posters".
"Had the posters been sent timely" she says, "they could have played an
important role in prevent the incidents that have led to the death or injury
of children".
Turkey failing on mine measures
According to the 2006 international mine report disclosed in the recent
days, Turkey has still not passed the local legislation required under the
2003 "Mine Banning Convention" which went into force in 2004.
Turkey still does not have a National Mine Activity Official or a National
Activity Cntre.
Turkey's 2006 stocks show the country has 2 million 979 thousand 165 mines
and the last date for their disposal is March 1, 2008.
There are 1 million mines that have been planted in Turkey and although it
needs to clear out and dispose of these by March 1, 2014, it has only
cleared out 17,886 mines in the year 2005.
Turkey has reported that for training and research reasons it is keeping
16,000 anti-personnel mines and this figure is not only the second highest
number of anti-personnel mines after Brazil but also about 10-15 fold what
most other countries have.