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Turkey accuses Sarah Ferguson of running fear campaign

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The World Today – Friday, 7 November , 2008 12:34:00

Reporter: Stephanie Kennedy

ELEANOR HALL: The Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, has sparked a diplomatic row between Britain and Turkey with a documentary she filmed on state run orphanages in Turkey.

The Turkish government is threatening the Duchess with legal action over the film which has just aired in Britain.

The film is an expose of the conditions that disabled children are forced to endure in Turkish orphanages.

But the Turkish Government has accused the Duchess of using the film to run a smear campaign against Turkey, just it is trying to join the European Union.

In London, Stephanie Kennedy reports.

STEPHANIE KENNEDY: Wearing a black wig and scarf, the undercover Duchess secretly filmed in some of Turkey’s orphanages for children with mental disabilities to see firsthand the conditions.

(Extract from documentary)

SARAH FERGUSON: But it is also the smell. It is that smell. It gets into your bones.

REPORTER: Terribly overwhelming.

SARAH FERGUSON: It was, wasn’t it?

REPORTER: It really was overwhelming.

SARAH FERGUSON: I think it was really important that we went into that place upstairs. It was just so degrading – the whole thing for these poor people.

(End of extract)

STEPHANIE KENNEDY: The documentary shows one boy who is kept in a box because he’s hyperactive.

SARAH FERGUSON: And I saw children with suffering from Down Syndrome and other kinds of disabilities. They are fed on their backs and given no love and no support.

There was one child when I was walking through the orphanage which was crawling on his back to get a gleam of sunlight from an open window. When I passed him he said good morning to me. He speaks English. There was nothing wrong with this boy. He just had a disability in his legs.

STEPHANIE KENNEDY: 18-year-old Princess Eugenie accompanied her mother to some of the orphanages and she was clearly moved by what she saw. Tears well up in her eyes and she says she feels angry.

PRINCESS EUGENIE: Well, I was completely overwhelmed. I mean I walked outside and there was a lady who was looking at me with these huge eyes. Just smiling from ear to ear and I was just, she was just so kind and I came in here looking like just, you know to be nice, see what is happening and she was the one who gave me my day.

STEPHANIE KENNEDY: Even before the documentary went to air Turkey accused the Duchess of smearing Turkey’s image. Authorities say she is trying to sabotage their European Union membership bid.

Turkey’s Minister for Women and Family Affairs is Nimet Cubukcu. She says Turkey has nothing to hide and she’s accused the Duchess of York of deception.

NIMET CUBUKDU (translated): Recently representations from the Council of Europe visited these orphanages without warning. Sarah Ferguson wanted to go there too but her request was declined politely because of on-going repair works at the orphanages.

Still she went there – circumventing Turkish law – violating our legal system and our constitution by doing so. She abused the trust of the volunteers and charity workers there.

She deceived these people by saying she would pay substantial donations.

STEPHANIE KENNEDY: While the duchess is no longer a member of the Royal Family her daughters are, and this diplomatic spat is an embarrassment for their grandmother, the Queen. But Sarah Ferguson denies any political motives.

SARAH FERGUSON: This is my personal point of view. I am not a member of the Royal Family. I am not a politician. I went in there to highlight the plight of children and I have.

Now it seems that I have embarrassed the Turkish Government. Well, let’s hope that I have embarrassed them enough in order for them to make changes in the welfare of their children.

I think it is important for the children that are locked in those cages. I really do. I think it is vital. They have got no-one standing up for them and they can’t stand up for themselves. Will somebody please do something? OK, I will.

STEPHANIE KENNEDY: Turkey’s Foreign Minister plans to raise the issue during talks with his British counterpart in London later today. In London this is Stephanie Kennedy reporting for The World Today.


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5 responses to “Turkey accuses Sarah Ferguson of running fear campaign”

  1. Grizwald Avatar
    Grizwald

    instead of attacking the messenger, Frerguson, why don’t you make an effort and try to fix the problem with the orphanages.

  2. Tolga Cakir Avatar
    Tolga Cakir

    Sarah Ferguson’a oyle bir cevap vericem ki hayatinda unutamiyacak.
    Konum Devlet kurumlarinda asimilasyon amaci ile cocuk istismari olacak.
    Acilen Turkiye Cumhuriyeti ve halkindan ozur dilesin.

  3. Tolga Cakir Avatar
    Tolga Cakir

    Baby and toddler ’stabbed to death’

    A woman has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a baby and toddler were reportedly found stabbed to death.

    The bodies of a three-month-old baby and a child of three were discovered at a property in the Cheetham Hill area of Manchester.

    A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: “A 21-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of murder and is currently in police custody for questioning.

    “An investigation is currently under way into the circumstances surrounding (the children’s) deaths.”

    A local newspaper reported that the children received fatal stab wounds to the chest, but a spokesman for the force said he was “unable to confirm or deny the reports”.

    Officers were alerted to the grim find at the property in Kilmington Drive after reports of “concern for welfare” were made.

    The house has been cordoned off, with several police officers standing outside. Forensic experts are carrying out a detailed examination of the house.

    The sexes of the children will not be disclosed until next of kin had been informed, the force said.

    Cheetham Hill is around two miles north of Manchester City Centre. It is undergoing regeneration and has a large proportion of council housing.

    Greater Manchester Police is appealing for anyone with any information about the discovery to contact CID officers on 0161 856 3540. People can also call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

    ITN

  4. Tolga Cakir Avatar
    Tolga Cakir

    Calls grow for inquiry into baby’s death

    Pressure is growing for a public inquiry after a baby died despite the involvement of social services, police and doctors.

    Three people face jail for repeatedly assaulting the 17-month-old boy died in the same area of London where Victoria Climbie died from abuse in 2000.

    Minister for Children Beverley Hughes has called in the same man who looked into that case to conduct an independent nationwide review.

    Social services have been slammed after two men were convicted of causing or allowing the death of the baby who was on the “at-risk” register.

    An Old Bailey jury heard the boy, who had been used as a “punchbag”, died in August last year from a broken back – which a doctor had failed to spot – and other injuries sustained over a period of months at his home in north London.

    The men – a 32-year-old handyman and Jason Owen, 36, of Bromley, southeast London, who had lived with the family for five weeks – were however found not guilty of murdering the toddler who was on Haringey Council’s child protection register.

    The child’s 27-year-old mother had previously pleaded guilty to the charge of causing or allowing the child’s death.

    The series of failings by Haringey Council was described as “worse than Climbie” – referring to the case of eight-year-old Victoria Climbie who was murdered by her great aunt and the woman’s lover in 2000, after care workers and police in the borough had failed to save her.

    In an bitter twist, the homes of both the little boy and Victoria were a stone’s throw from each other. Two social workers and a lawyer have been given formal written warnings over the toddler’s case, the Haringey Local Safeguarding Children Board has said.

    The baby was seen 60 times by health or social workers during an eight-month period.

    By the end, he was unrecognisable, his curly, golden locks shaved off, his cheeks hollow and his eyes dead to the world.

    He had more than 50 injuries or bruises – 15 of them to the mouth – and at one stage had been smeared with chocolate to hide the marks. In the 48 hours before he was found dead in his blood-spattered cot, a doctor failed to spot his broken spine.

    A detective in the case described the boyfriend as “sadistic – fascinated with pain”. He had Nazi memorabilia in the house. The court heard the mother was “a slob, completely divorced from reality. She was living in a dream world and put her lover before her child. She closed her eyes to what was going on”.

    Gillie Christou, in charge of social workers looking after children on the register in Haringey, told the court she had agreed to keep the baby with his mother.

    She said: “I made the decision at the time based on the material in front of me and based on the background to the case.”

    The family cannot be identified for legal reasons. All three will be sentenced on December 15.

    ITN

  5. William Avatar
    William

    Where’s Lady Sarah Ferguson when 200 odd Palestinian children have been bombed by Israel. No genuine interest in welfare of children, only when it suits her in pushing her own agenda!

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