Sixteen students arrested in İstanbul for protesting rising child worker deaths

Seventeen people were initially detained following the protest. Prosecutors sought the arrest of the students without first taking their statements.

Over 800,000 children in Turkey are out of education, report finds

27 November 2025

The Bakırköy Duty Penal Judgeship of Peace ordered the arrest of 16 individuals on charges of “resisting a public officer to prevent them from performing their duty” and “damaging property.”

The court justified the arrests by claiming there was “concrete evidence indicating a strong suspicion of crime,” based on the on-site inspection report and video footage of the protest. The court contended that the arrests were a proportional measure.

TİP responds to arrests

TİP released a statement on social media yesterday, condemning the arrests and the government’s handling of the issue.

The party stated, “Those who condemn millions of children to hunger, those who drag youth into a futureless state, those who send high school students to die in MESEMs; they are mistaken if they think they can cover up these crimes by arresting 16 TİP members.

“We will fight more, we will stand up against you more! We are addressing those who mobilize all the means of their power for the wealth of a handful of rich people, those who try to take out the rage of millions saying ‘protect our children’ on the youth who bravely raise their voices.”

THREE CHILD WORKERS KILLED IN A WEEK

‘Businesses employ two children in place of one adult at same cost’

23 October 2025

Rise in child worker fatalities

The protests stem from a growing concern over work-related fatalities involving children in Turkey. Figures from the Health and Safety Labor Watch (İSİG), an organization that monitors work-related deaths nationwide, show that a total of 85 child workers have died so far this year. This marks the highest number recorded by İSİG since it began keeping statistics in 2011.

While media reports indicate that some of the deceased were MESEM students, the exact number of fatalities among students in the program has not been disclosed by authorities.

According to İSİG, at least 11 child workers under the MESEM program died in work-related incidents in the 2023-24 school year.

Minister provides conflicting figures on child worker deaths in vocational education program

21 September 2024

The MESEM program

The Vocational Education Center (MESEM) program was included in the scope of formal and compulsory education in 2016. It is administered by the General Directorate of Vocational and Technical Education under the National Education Ministry.

The program, which is open to students who have completed at least middle school, lasts four years. Students are instructed in 34 fields and 184 professions. The curriculum requires students to spend four days a week gaining practical training under a master at a workplace and one day a week attending theoretical lessons and difference courses at school. Graduates receive both a high school diploma and a mastery certificate.

Child rights advocates argue that the MESEM implementation legitimizes child labor and jeopardizes children’s lives by placing them in unsupervised environments, thereby detaching them from formal education. (VK)