Today everyone is sharing photos... Flowers, messages, wishes... And tomorrow?
Tomorrow, will a child's tear be silently buried in the ground again?
Will we pass by tomorrow, leaving a newborn in a hospital corridor with its last breath?
How quickly we forgot the Yenidogan gang, didn't we?
Since when is the pain of children dying at hospital gates and on hospital roads not on the agenda?
Because we are used to pain.
Because child deaths translated into statistics no longer make anyone's conscience bleed.
However, there are 21 million 817 thousand 61 children between the ages of 0-17 in Turkey.
This number is not just a hope; each one of them is a life that needs to be protected, fed, educated and their health secured.
And the truth is like a slap in the face:
In 2023, 13,043 children aged 1-17 died from external injuries and poisoning.
This is not an accident report; it is the heavy balance sheet of negligence, precariousness and lack of supervision.
According to FISA data, at least 777 children died from ’preventable“ causes in 2024.
Each one means a family's breath is cut short.
Child labor is still the dirty reality of this country.
According to the OSH Assembly, at least 82 children died while working this year.
Children who should be at school die in workplace murders.
The figures on sexual abuse are the darkest side of shame:
Approximately 30 thousand children are sexually abused in Turkey every year.
The annual number of cases in official records is around 31,000; the real number is much higher with unreported cases.
The number of lawsuits filed in the last 10 years is over 250,000.
And another grave picture: children's nutrition and development.
In this country, children grow up not only dying and being abused, but also growing up in poverty.
Stunting under 5 years of age: %5.5 - %6
Severe stunting: %1.5
Low weight: %1.5
Iron deficiency / anemia: %6,3
These are not just rates; they are the silent cries of thousands of children whose right to grow up has been taken away.
What about the children dying in hospitals?
Official data is fragmented, classifications inadequate, places of death unclear.
There is still no transparency to ease the pain of the families.
Because in this country even the death of a child is lost in the dark corridors of bureaucracy.
Who will ease this pain?
Will families ever stop grieving?
No, no, no.
Will the speeches of politics make it go away?
No, no, no.
And what will make it go away?
Transparent data,
Accountable institutions,
Inspected hospitals and health services,
Secure workspaces,
A strong social-economic model to end the poverty that breeds child labor and abuse,
Effective social policies,
And most importantly: real political will.
Today is World Children's Rights Day...
But the question is this:
Will this country only remember the rights of its children today?
Tomorrow?
How many more children will die quietly tomorrow?
How many will be exploited?
How many will be malnourished?
How many will be ignored?
If the death, abuse and poverty of children are still just statistics, then we as a society have a lot to answer for.