Crimes against children encourage vigilante culture

10-13-2009 Turkey:

The state's failure to protect children is further exacerbating the already widespread culture of vigilantism in Turkey, analysts argue.

A recent attempt at vigilante justice took place in Viranşehir, Şanlıurfa, on Sunday against two people who allegedly tried to kidnap an 8-year-old girl. Rumors in the child's neighborhood that the suspects were members of the “organ mafia” resulted in nearly 1,000 people gathering in front of the police station where suspects were being held. The crowd vandalized the suspects' car.

According to experts, a lack of trust in the justice system, the “tolerance” of security forces and the focus of security forces on protecting the state rather than private citizens has led to the rise of vigilantism in Turkey, not only out of political motivation but also for ordinary crimes as well.

The Viranşehir incident was not the first of its kind. Last year in İstanbul's Okmeydanı neighborhood, a motorbike courier, Selahattin Cirit, was killed by a mob after rumors spread that there was a child molester in the neighborhood. Only last week in Tekirdağ, crowds attempted to lynch two people who they suspected of being child molesters.

Sociologist Tanıl Bora, the author of “Turkey's Lynch Regime,” underlined that vigilantism in Turkey has become so routine that it has become part of the system.

He told Today's Zaman that vigilantism in Turkey usually has political motivations and in the past lynch mobs targeted minorities, Alevis and recently Kurds, but vigilantism is common with regard to non-political issues as well.

While explaining Turkey's vigilante culture to Today's Zaman, Professor Selçuk Candansayar said the emotions behind vigilantism do not develop overnight.

“For days, we have been reading stories about the missing children in Kayseri; most likely the mob in Viranşehir was thinking about the incident in Kayseri,” he said.

He had a point, according to reports, there was a rumor in Viranşehir that the suspects were also responsible for the disappearance of three children in Kayseri.

Three children disappeared in Kayseri's Talas district on the second day of Eid al-Fitr. They have not yet been found.

Öztürk Türkdoğan, the chairman of the Human Rights Association (İHD), underlined that society is living in fear because of the recent stories about missing children. “In a year almost 1,000 children have gone missing, and people feel helpless. The state and its security forces are concentrating on other issues. They are after what they call ‘terrorists,' and they are doing this at the expense of the security of the citizens,” he told Today's Zaman.

He also said crimes against children are not punished in Turkey in accordance with the expectations of the country's citizens.

“A state that takes its citizens' security into consideration has to devote its intelligence service to finding out where these children are,” he said.

According to Türkdoğan, when all these factors come together -- the lack of trust in the justice system, the sensitivity of the issue, since it is related to children, and the shortcomings of the state --- they lead society toward vigilantism. But for the state to close its eyes to people's attempts to take justice in their own hand also encourages would-be vigilantes. “It is a matter of culture. The society should know that even criminals have some rights, including [the right to a] fair trial,” Türkdoğan said.

Bora underlined that there is a perception that security forces usually “understand” the mobs that engage in vigilantism. “The mob thinks that the security apparatus is bound by the law and is not able to act freely. The mob feels that the security apparatus is able to understand the mob. This is why they shout ‘give them to us',” Bora said.

Criminal sociologist Halil İbrahim Bahar from the International Strategic Research Organization (USAK) underlined that such mobs are not composed only of less educated individuals, contrary to general belief, but sometimes even rational people can act irrationally.

“Sometimes not participating in vigilantism could lead to exclusion from the community. I guess in Viranşehir, due to the social structure of the town, it was not only because it was an attempt to harm a child, but it was also considered an attempt to harm a certain clan, a big family. This is why in Turkey attempts at lynching are different from in the West because in Western countries they are usually hate crimes,” he explained to Today's Zaman.

Candansayar had a similar view; he thinks that Turkish society has become used to the idea of using violence against the “enemy within.”

“Starting with politics, for a long time the ‘enemy within' has been a widely applied concept in Turkey. There are enemies within Turkey who want to divide society, there are enemies within who try to undermine our unity by forming gangs, there are enemies within who are members of the organ mafia who want to harm our children and our moral values,” he said, adding that vigilantism has a double message.

“It is a call from society demanding unity. It helps those who are participating in the vigilantism or supporting it to strengthen their feelings of belonging and their common identity. Vigilantism is also a show of power for enemies and friends,” Candansayar said. ..Source..