I do care about the well-being of
these poor kids.

A Turkish minister on Monday accused Sarah Ferguson, Britain´s Duchess of York, of smearing Turkey´s image on a TV show about orphanages in Turkey to be aired on a British television channel later this week.

Nimet Cubukcu, the minister in charge of women and family affairs, said the television program is timed to air at around the same time as the European Union is scheduled to release a report on Turkey´s progress toward membership.

"It is obvious that in this incidence, Sarah Ferguson is trying to leave Turkey in the midst of a smudge campaign," Cubukcu said.

more from BBC News:

Children´s plight moves princess

The princess said the experience left her feeling angry and upset The plight of abandoned children in a Turkish orphanage made Princess Eugenie cry, pictures show. She accompanied her mother the Duchess of York and an undercover news team to investigate conditions in an Istanbul centre for 60 disabled children. Afterwards the princess said the experience had made her "so angry", and her "eyes had been opened". The Royal pair also visited Romanian institutions as part of the special report for ITV1´s Tonight programme. The princess told Tonight: "In the hustle and bustle of a cosmopolitan city, in a popular tourist destination it´s hard to comprehend places like that exist. My eyes have been opened." The duchess donned a wig and headscarf disguise She wore a disguise of a black wig and headscarf to visit the Saray institution near the Turkish city of Ankara, where more than 700 disabled children are housed. Inside she and the reporting team found children tied to their beds or left in cots all day - not even being taken out to be fed. One child, who was not allowed outside, was discovered crawling along the corridor to feel the sun on his face. Her sister Princess Beatrice also went with her mother to institutions in Romania with the programme. The duchess, who works with a number of children´s charities, wanted to see for herself whether conditions were improving for orphans and disabled children in Romania following a similar investigation by the team three years ago. The duchess said: "Everybody always rushes to what the front page says, or what´s sexy, or the glamorous Hollywood party where you´re raising money for paediatric aids, which is fantastic and a great job. "But there is still a child in Romania saying ´help me´." The programme will be broadcast on ITV1 on 6 November.

Well... again, ridiculous behavior on the part of the Turks, sorry guys! They care more about an image then an orphanage of disabled children being tied to beds!

 Actually he is one of the few who have responded in such ways. I have watched this item on turkish television and was happy with the responds. There were people who did have their doubts about the intentions of the Duchess yes, but they added that these things shouldnt exist at all and that it is a shame, no matter how it comes to daylight. The journalists also were very disappointed at the reaction of some people, who seemed to care only about their image.

I was shocked to see that this exist in a metropolitan as Ankara, with such tight governmental control. And also to see that in documentaries made there, all the children were ´released´, but when they showed the shots again, you could see they cut off the ropes, and there were still parts left on beds. So sad.

I am now watching this and I am dismayed, horrified, saddened, not sure what else I can say, but I am totally suprised that Turkey treats its disabled, abandoned, mentally handicapped in such a way.

I saw the previous documentaries in Romania which reduced me to tears, and sadly the places visited in Turkey were only a little better.

Please Turkey change you ways, accept the disabled and mentally handicapped, treat them like humans and stop the discrimination and the humiliation.

Will they, libralady after this incident?? Wishful thinking. I wish and hope for the best!

1908: Pastor Ernst Jakob Christoffel founded the first home for blind, deaf and dumb and disabled persons in Turkey.

http://www.light-for-the-world.org/en_wer_geschichte.php

turkish orphans

Just to introduce a slightly more positive note to this thread, there is an excellent school for the disabled here.  Of course these children are not orphans and this is a fairly affluent area but I am sure this cannot be the only school like this in Turkey.

http://www.bodrumsaglik.org/En/

....and they appoint these (?) women as ministers in charge of women and family affairs.

 Actually the only place I have seen anyone disabled in Turkey was in Bodrum and I went and spoke to the guy; he had excellent English. 

 Tonight is a follow up programme of the meetings held with the relevent departments in government.  The initial trailer of the programme show some very defensive government officials.

 Where?