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The report says that 22.4% of children in Turkey do not have birth certificates, or 21% of boys and 23.8% of girls. According to the report, of the 2 million children without records, 12% are from the West of the country; 17.9% from the Southeast; 20.2% from Central Anatolia; 12.5% from the North, and 42.2% from the East.
Of the entire population of unregistered young people, 37.2% are aged below one year; 22.7% are aged one; 19.3% are two; 18.4% are three; 12.7% are four years of age or older.
The report said it was the Turkish government’s practice not to register children directly after birth that was to account for the large number of children without birth documentation. It adds that transportation problems in the isolated East and Southeast of the country had contributed to the high figures recorded for those areas.
HUGE YOUNG POPULATION
Turkey is a young country. According to the 1990 census, children aged four and younger made up one-sixth of the country’s population, or six million out of the recorded population of 56 million for that census. According to estimates, Turkey’s population for 2000 is expected to reach 65 million, 10 million of which is expected to be made up of children aged four and under.
The report draws special attention to the plight of children living in the East and Southeast of the country. The report says that 58% of children in these regions have no birth certification. It says that half of these unregistered children were not documented because their families were forced to migrate due to violence in the region. Violence also forced the closing of half of the regions’ schools, a situation the report urges the government to tackle with an urgent plan to revitalize education there.
The problem is not solely related to children. The report pointed to the high number adults living in illegal housing in the major cities of İstanbul, İzmir, Ankara and Adana who are unregistered and thus cannot vote or receive certain benefits.
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