Children as young as eight living in the ‘Nizip’ refugee camp located in the Gaziantep province in Turkey were subjected to sexual harassment and rape at the hands of a Turkish camp worker. Sputnik’s correspondent got acquainted with some of the testimonies of these young victims.

According to information provided, about 30 Syrian boys aged 10 to 14 years experienced sexual violence and abuse for four months in the Nizip camp. Incidentally, it is the same Turkish asylum center which was hailed a huge success by German Chancellor Angela Merkel during her visit on April 23.

The news about the sexual abuse in this camp first appeared in the local newspaper BirGün.

In their testimonies, the children talk openly about the sexual harassment that they went through and in exchange for their silence they were offered money.

According to information received by Sputnik, only 8 out of 30 children who were sexually harassed by the 27-year-old Turk, a camp cleaner named E.E., told their parents about their sexual abuse.

Many of the affected children after being raped were in need of psychological support. As it turned out, some of them following the incident left the camp with their parents.

It is reported that the accused cleaner E.E abused children in the camp from June to September 2015. He was detained by law enforcement agencies back on September 5, but the blatant incident has become known to the public only now. The case has been transferred to the Criminal District Court of Nizip.

The detainee is currently in prison in Gaziantep and according to the Turkish law he could face up to 230 years in prison on charges of sexual harassment and numerous cases of raping of minors. In his testimony, the sexual offender, E.E, admitted to abusing the children, but he said that he did not know five out of the eight victims who filed a case against him.

Furthermore, he accused one of the child victims of inviting him to the restroom to join in sexual intercourse for money.

Meanwhile, in his testimony at the prosecutor’s office and in court the 12-year-old victim A.D. told a different story.

“He beckoned me and took me to the bathroom and offered me [$o.5o] to have sex with him. I refused. Then he hastily pulled my pants down and raped me. It wasn’t too painful. In several days, he called me over again but I ran away. However, the next day he grabbed me dragged me into the bathroom and did it all over again.”

Another victim, a 12-year-old M.H., described what he experienced. “During the month of Ramadan E.E. called me into the shower and said that he would give me 5 lira ($ 1.5) so I went after him. First he stroked me in different places, then he began to touch my genitals, but there was no rape. 15 days after Ramadan, he took me to an empty room in the camp and did the same thing.”

During a testimony another young boy, H.E., said that “E.E called him to the toilet and said that he wants to have some fun with me and promised to give me 10 lira ($ 3).”

“Then he said that he needs to bring something and left. At this point, I ran away. I went to my father and told him everything. Then we went with his father to the police station and told them about what had happened.”

The victim, M.I., recalling the incident said, “E.E. from time to time called me and my friends to the toilet. He offered me 5 lira for intimacy with him, but I refused and ran away. Later I told this to my uncle’s son H.E. and to the other guys. They confirmed that the same thing had happened to them as well.”

Source:sputniknews.com