Authorities announced on Friday that vandalism of a Jewish cemetery in Istanbul on Wednesday was the work of five children between the ages of 11 and 13. Some 81 gravestones were overturned and broken in Hasköy Jewish Cemetery in Istanbul’s Beyoğlu district, where a Turkish Jewish community lived for centuries.
The incident has stirred up outrage with the Jewish community calling for the authorities for the swift capture of the perpetrators. Checking footage from security cameras in the area, police found the children were responsible for the vandalism. The Istanbul Governorate said in a statement that the perpetrators were residents of the neighborhood where the cemetery was located and an investigation was underway. The children told investigators that they entered the cemetery after they lost their ball during a ball game in a nearby park and were looking for it. Security camera footage showed the children kicking the gravestones before fleeing.
Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalın has condemned the incident and announced earlier that an investigation was underway. In a statement, Kalın said they would “not allow those attacking sacred values and trying to sow the seeds of discord and enmity in our community.” Ömer Çelik, deputy chair of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) denounced the attack and said in a statement that Turkey has always been a country where the values of people of different faiths are protected.