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Reporter - Growing up Behind Bars

January 5, 2019

2-year-old Miraz lives with his mother - in a Turkish prison. His mother is a Kurdish activist who was handed down a 4-year sentence for 'terrorist propaganda'. He spends the weekends outside with his father, who does what he can to give Miraz a normal life.

https://p.dw.com/p/3B4sd

In the last 2 years, over 160,000 people have been jailed in Turkey as part of purges by the government. Human rights organizations estimate they include 700 children, imprisoned along with their mothers. One of them is 2-year-old Miraz. His mother is a Kurdish activist who was handed down a 4-year sentence for 'terrorist propaganda'. He spends the weekends outside with his father, who does what he can to give Miraz a normal life. Life behind bars takes its toll on children. Experience has shown that it leaves them traumatized and anxious. But in Turkey, government supporters maintain that women deliberately seek out this fate as a way of boosting anti-Erdogan sentiment. A report by Gunnar Köhne.