Family of Sexually Assaulted Child: 'Everyone Should Hear Our Voice'

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We are in the Kanarya Neighborhood in the district of Küçükçekmece in İstanbul. In this neighborhood, a man sexually assaulted a five-year-old girl a few days ago.

We played house with the children of the neighborhood, as seen in the photo above.

The perpetrator Y.T., had been playing such games with the five-year-old who is now at the police station to identify him. She is responding to questions at the district security directorate with a pedagogue present, while her friends, family and relatives wait for her.

Two surveillance cameras in the neighborhood

We are right in front of the block of flats where the family of the child reside. There are one Mobese (Mobile Electronic System Integration) surveillance at the two ends of the street. There is a very big police station on the next street. The children, the adults, everybody express their views on the assault and show the entrance of the block of apartments where the assaults occurred.

Just then, Şaban Vatan, the man who made the headlines with his strive to solve the suspicious death of his daughter, arrives with Gülsüm Kaya from the Women's Assemblies, a feminist organization. He says that he came to visit the family for solidarity and support.

"The offender should receive the heaviest sentence"

Şaban Vatan (left) visited the family.

When the assaulted child and her family came, we all together go to their home. The child goes to a different room with her mother. Her look reveals how confused and scared she is.

Şaban Vatan, the father of the child and us go to another room. The father says, "We won't stay silent. We will defend our child's right until everybody hears us. We want the offender to receive the greatest sentence. We want rights, law, justice."

He thanks everyone who gave support to them, saying had the reaction from the neighborhood and the public not been there, the alleged criminal wouldn't be caught this quickly.

"At least your angel lives"

"At least your angel lives. From now on, embrace her, protect her. We will strive side by side for children not to be harmed from now on," Şaban Vatan tells the girl's father.

Meanwhile, Ekrem İmamoğlu, the Mayor of the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality calls the family, asking for information and offering his support.

The family had migrated to İstanbul from the mostly Kurdish-populated in the 1990s, where there was a mass migration from the region.

We leave home as it gets crowded.

(EMK/VK)