A village guard who allegedly sexually abused a 14-year-old schoolgirl after forcing her to take illegal drugs in the Uludere (Qileban) district of Turkey’s southeastern province of Şırnak (Şirnex) was released on bail on Sunday, Mezopotamya Agency (MA) reported.
The village guard was detained after the 14-year-old told her schoolteachers that she had been abused. The child was taken into the protection of the Family and Social Services Ministry.
A relative of the abused child told MA that the suspect village guard escaped the gendarmes after the child’s complaint, and could only be arrested three days later. They said he has been removed from his duty as a village guard.
The father of the child, who was also a village guard, was trying to cover up the incident, and to persuade his daughter to withdraw her complaint, the relative said.
Crimes committed by village guards, officially appointed paramilitary forces set up to resist and inform on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in southeastern Turkey, have increased significantly in recent years, according to reports compiled by Jinnews in September 2022.
Crimes committed by the guards commonly include sexual assault against children, rape and murder of women, and the production of and trade in illicit drugs.