Erdogan’s Grand Strategy Needs Small Hands

Turkey speaks like a regional empire. DİSK says 6.7 million children live in poverty, about one in three children nationwide.

Arzu Çerkezoğlu, president of the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey, said 15 percent of children work.

Employment among 14-to-17-year-olds has risen 70 percent, while enrollment in that age group has fallen by 8.1 percentage points.

MESEM is the Education Ministry’s vocational education program. DİSK says its enrollment has grown more than fivefold over the past decade.

The program sends students into workplaces under the name of training, while employers receive labor with fewer rights and lower costs.

DİSK recorded 93,517 children injured in workplace accidents over the past nine years. At least 546 children died at work. That is eighteen classrooms.

Erdogan’s government sells national grandeur abroad. At home, poverty pushes children into factories, workshops, farms and other workplaces.

Employers call it training. Empires need soldiers. This one is hiring children.

#Turkey #Erdogan #ChildLabor #MESEM

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