Turkey | Ankara protests Austria over ‘child sex’ report at airport

Turkey has protested to Austria over a news ticker at Vienna’s airport that claimed Turkey allows sex with children under age 15, an official said yesterday, amid heightened tensions between the two countries.
A Foreign Ministry official said the Austrian charge d’affaires was called to the ministry on Saturday for an official complaint about the “distorted” headline which appeared on a screen at the airport the same day. A ministry statement accused Austrian officials of encouraging news reports that “besmear” Turkey.
Turkey’s Constitutional Court last month scrapped an article in the penal code that defined all sexual acts against children as abuse, triggering concern among child-rights advocates that the move will lead to an increase in child sexual abuse cases.
The court justices voted 7-6 to uphold a local court which argued that all cases should be reviewed individually and that someone who abuses a 4-year-old should not receive the same punishment as someone who has consensual sex with a 15-year-old. The previous law remains in force for six months, giving Parliament time to enact a new law, while child-rights advocates will seek to have the judgment reversed at the European Court of Human Rights.
A ministry statement said Turkey was “attached to its international obligations” regarding child rights and was “conscious of its responsibilities.”
The ministry official said the report was removed from the screen at the Vienna airport following the Turkish ambassador’s intervention. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government rules.
Turkey also demanded the removal of another news ticker at the same airport a few weeks ago that said visiting Turkey would amount to supporting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the ministry said.
Ties between Turkey and Austria have been tense for several weeks, with a top Austrian official saying Turkey was heading toward a dictatorship and other leaders calling for an end to Turkey’s European Union membership talks. Turkey, in turn, has described Austria as the “capital of radical racism.”
European nations have voiced concern over Turkey’s massive crackdown on alleged supporters of a religious movement led by U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara claims orchestrated last month’s violent coup attempt that killed at least 270 people. Turkey has accused European allies of not providing the elected government sufficient support in the face of the attempted coup or its bid to move against the coup plotters. AP

Three killed in car bomb attack targeting police

Police search an area after a bomb attack in Mardin

Kurdish rebels detonated a car bomb at a police station in southeast Turkey yesterday, killing two police officers and a young child, officials said. Some 25 other people were wounded.
The attack targeted a traffic-police station on a highway linking the city of Diyarbakir and the town of Batman, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. The explosion tore a large crater on the highway while television footage showed a three-story building that appeared to have been gutted by the blast.
Officials blamed the attack on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. The Diyarbakir governor’s office said eight police officers were among the wounded.
Clashes between the PKK and Turkey’s security forces resumed last year after a tenuous cease-fire collapsed. The PKK has frequently targeted police or military with roadside explosives or car bombs.
Last week, a wave of PKK attacks targeting Turkish police and soldiers in the mainly Kurdish southeast region, including Diyarbakir, killed at least 12 people. PKK commander Cemil Bayik had threatened increased attacks on police last week, in comments carried by Kurdish and Turkish media.
The attack came on the day the PKK marks the start of its armed campaign in 1984, with attacks on paramilitary police forces in the two southeastern towns of Eruh and Semdinli.
Since hostilities with the PKK resumed last year, more than 600 Turkish security personnel and thousands of PKK militants have been killed, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency. Human rights groups say hundreds of civilians have also died.
Turkey and its allies consider the PKK a terrorist organization.