Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç spoke at the ‘Child Law Panel in the Türkiye Century’ held in a hotel in Ankara. Minister Tunç, who started his speech by congratulating children on April 23 National Sovereignty and Children’s Day, emphasized that children’s rights are not just an issue they voiced today, but that they always remember. Stating that the world remained silent about the oppression in Palestine, Minister Tunç said, “If the child laughs, the world laughs, but today children in Palestine are crying. There has been oppression in Palestine since 1917. There has been torture for the oppressed. The oppressed people who have been martyred in Israeli attacks since October 7. 37 thousand Palestinians were martyred, 70 percent of them were women and children. The decisions taken by the United Nations Security Council are a black mark on the world political history. “We are among the leading countries that come to aid Gaza. We will continue to do our best to prevent the massacre of children in Palestine,” he said, adding that they stand by the oppressed.
“OUR CHILDREN ARE OUR MOST VALUABLE ASSET”
Talking about children’s law, Tunç said that Turkey is a country that defends the best interests of children. Stating that they have implemented important regulations for children, especially constitutional amendments, Tunç said, “Unfortunately, children’s rights were forgotten in our 1982 Constitution. Therefore, with the 2010 Constitutional amendment, children’s rights were included in the constitution for the first time. Measures to protect children from all kinds of abuse were reminded again. The 2010 Constitutional amendment is very important in this respect.” With the regulation stating ‘The state protects children against all kinds of abuse and violence’, the duties of the state in terms of protecting our children, who are the future of the family and the strong society, from all kinds of maltreatment have been updated clearly and in detail. Our children are our most valuable assets, and no parent wants them to be harmed. “They are the most vulnerable segment of society against the dangers around them. Therefore, parents and the state have a very important duty to protect the family so that both the women and children in it can be protected,” he said.
Stating that they have implemented important regulations in this context, Minister Tunç said:
“We established family courts in 2003. There were no family courts until 2003, we knew the difficulties our women and children had in court processes regarding family, divorce, and other courts. The Ministry of Family was established in 2011. Structural arrangements were made regarding children’s rights and services. “There have been important changes that protect women and children.”
The program ended with a group photo. The Supreme Court Chief Public Prosecutor Bekir Şahin and many members of the judiciary attended the panel.
