The parents of a British baby killed
by gunfire in Turkey are campaigning for a change in the Turkish
gun laws. David and Özlem Grimason have travelled from Scotland
to speak at a public forum in Istanbul. On 7 July 2003, their 2-year-old
son Alistair was asleep in his pram in a café in Foca where
his mother was eating. An argument broke out between two other customers.
One of them drew a gun and started shooting. Alistair was shot in
the crossfire and killed. He was another victim of gun crime in a
country where 100 children a year die in gun violence.
David and Özlem are working with the Umut
Foundation, an IANSA participant campaigning for Turkish
gun law reform. They will be attending the Umut Day rally on
Sunday 28 September
along with Mick North, whose 5-year-old daughter Sophie was among
16 children killed in the massacre in the Dunblane primary school,
Scotland in 1996. They will also be talking with the media and
are hoping to present a petition to the Turkish Prime Minister.
According to Tanzer Gezer, executive director of the Umut Foundation, “We
must raise awareness of the problem of gun proliferation not
only with the Turkish government but also with Turkish people“.
In September 2005, the Grimasons travelled to Turkey with fellow-IANSA members and bereaved family the Croziers to take part in an anti-gun rally in Izmir.
Below is a letter written by Mick North to be sent to the Turkish
media. You can send a message of support in English and the Umut
Foundation will translate it into Turkish and send it on. Messages
should be sent to Tanzer Gezer at tanzer.gezer@dedeman.com.tr
“There are lots of stories about Alistair, but we
also see others. Some people were shot dead by accident at a
wedding, in
another town a young girl was hit when children were playing at
shooting drinks cans. It is more than just laws that need to change;
it is a way of thinking.”
Dear Editor
Gun availability
In January 2002 I was invited to Istanbul to address an International
Disarmament Symposium organised by the Istanbul Bar, the Open Society
Institute and the Umut Foundation. I described how, after my 5-year-old
daughter and her friends were killed in a shooting massacre in
a Scottish school, many of us had campaigned for tighter gun laws.
Our Government decided to introduce new legislation to restrict
gun ownership, because they recognised the dangers posed by a gun
culture. Gun deaths are comparatively rare in the United Kingdom.
At the Istanbul seminar many groups of Turkish professionals,
including teachers, doctors, social workers, journalists and police,
expressed their concerns about the high level of gun crime in turkey.
There was a consensus that greater restrictions should be placed
on gun ownership. Those of us visiting from abroad agreed. I had
hoped that the Symposium would mark the beginning of a change in
attitude towards guns in Turkey and that the laws would be tightened.
It appears that nothing has happened.
So it was with considerable horror that I learnt that a Scottish
toddler had become a victim of Turkish gun culture. The shooting
of Alistair Grimason in July has caused considerable shock in Britain.
I will be joining Alistair’s parents, David and Özlem,
in Turkey later this month to support their efforts to persuade
your government to take the issue of gun crime more seriously.
I sincerely hope that many Turkish citizens will join their campaign,
and that Turkey can set off on the road to reducing the free availability
of firearms and the consequential high level of gun crime.
Yours faithfully
Dr Mick North
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