Will these wounded children be the future of Turkey?

In Turkey, one in three children suffers from extreme poverty. That is more than 7 million children in total. Out of 20 million children, 15 million cannot have a one-week vacation in a year. Almost half of them cannot eat meat, chicken or fish. 

Millions of them live in homes where the rent is unable to be paid, or heating is unable to be paid, or that does not have a washing machine or television. 

Poverty is more common in the east of the country, where nearly one in two children live in poverty. This figure is one in five in the west. 

There are millions of children who are hungry, who are homeless, who do not have a family, who do not have access to clean water, who cannot access health services or attend school, who have to work to contribute to the household income, who get home in the middle of the night sick from exhaustion. There are millions of children whose back hurts, who develop wounds on their hands that never heal because they are forced to work constantly… 

There are children who are forced to sell handkerchiefs on the streets, or collect scraps. There are children who bend under loads that are heavier than their own weight, for 25 Turkish Liras for 10 hours. They are the children of unemployed parents, who have no social security. 

These children will still be working for low wages under bad conditions in 20 years. They were born poor and will grow old poor. They will lack moral, material and emotional resources. They will never be full and equal citizens. 

They will be married off underage, get pregnant, leave school. Maybe they will become drug addicts. Their basic needs will not be met and they will constantly wander around half-hungry. They might get involved in serious crime. They may earn...