Legal Developments as to "Cyber Grooming" Actions from the Lanzarote Convention to Now

According to statistics, internet users have been increasing rapidly, especially since the COVID 19 pandemic. Nowadays, gaming platforms, chat platforms, and video conferencing applications are not only for grownups but for children as well. Minor users, encouraged for educational purposes, are particularly often the target of cybercrimes. One such offense is approaching a child through information and communication technology for sexual purposes, known as cyber-grooming. The act is a solicitation of minors using various techniques. Commonly, the first stage of criminal behaviour is an online conversation between the perpetrator (groomer) and the victim (child). In the second stage of the crime, the perpetrator aims to contact the target physically in person. Even though this is a new type of criminal behaviour, there are already international and national criminalization norms in place to penalize it. The Lanzarote Convention is the first international legal document to refer to these actions as crimes. Aiming to protect children from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse, the Convention sets out some responsibilities to signatory States. Despite being one of the signatories of the Lanzarote Convention, the aforementioned acts are not considered a separate crime in Türkiye. For that reason, this study will first bring examples of criminalization, and then evaluate the situation in Turkish law. This study seeks to make the issue visible and suggests providing measures to prevent the sexual exploitation of minors by taking the necessary legislative steps. Keywords: Cybercrimes; Cyber grooming; Lanzarote Convention; Solicitation of children for sexual purposes; Sexual violence against children.