US adds Turkey to list of countries using child soldiers

A US State Department report called out Turkey for providing support to armed groups in Syria that use children in combat.
Syrian youth training in Aleppo
A Syrian youth holds an AK-47 assault rifle as he takes part in a military training on Jan. 23, 2013, at a former school turned into a "military academy" in Tlaleen in northern Syria's Aleppo province. Perhaps bored at home and eager to join their older brothers and fathers on the front line against President Bashar al-Assad's army, Syrian teenagers joined the rebel cause, oblivious to international laws prohibiting child combatants. - JM LOPEZ/AFP via Getty Images
Al Monitor: The Pulse of the Middle East
Al-Monitor Staff

The US State Department has added Turkey to a list of countries implicated in the unlawful recruitment or use of child soldiers, the first time the label has been applied to a NATO ally. 

The State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons report released Thursday called on Turkey to “cease operational, in-kind, and financial support to armed opposition groups in Syria that recruit child soldiers.” 

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