Four political parties agree to launch a probe on sexual child abuse cases

All four political parties in the Turkish parliament have jointly agreed to launch a parliamentary inquiry into cases of sexual abuse against children following a tense debate late March 23, when the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) rejected the opposition's motion for an in-depth investigation on specific child abuse cases in the Central Anatolian province of Karaman. 

"The course of this debate has sometimes turned into a political competition. Just like us, the other parties now opt for this, because we all know that some sensitivities are common and beyond political differences," Naci Bostanc?, the deputy parliamentary group leader of the AKP, told reporters after the parliamentary debate.   

The tension in parliament heightened after Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) lawmakers submitted a motion for an in-depth investigation into allegations that a teacher was arrested for alleged sexual abuse of eight male students in Karaman. The teacher, identified as Muammer B., had been teaching private courses for students in apartments rented by the Karaman branch of the Ensar Foundation. He was arrested on March 13 upon a claim the 54-year-old man had raped eight of his male students in these apartments.

The MHP motion supported by other oppositional parties was turned down with the votes of the majority AKP lawmakers. After a long quarrel at the general assembly, Bostanc? had a meeting with his counterparts from the three opposition parties and expressed their intention to set a parliamentary inquiry commission into all sorts of child abuse. 

"I want to draw attention to the fact that the issue of child abuse has a wide scope. This has a very [wide] dimension from street children to drug addict children and other sorts of...