Child Marriage in Turkey

The issue of child marriage typically involves young girls, typically pre-teen or early teens, being married off to older men.  Though more common in some areas of the world then others, it is a practice that occurs everywhere.  However, it's also a practice that is facing growing criticism and calls from International Bodies & Human Rights organizations to be banned worldwide.  This has led many nations, including Turkey, to pass laws deeming the practice of child marriage illegal.  However, many are criticizing Turkey by stating that their laws banning child marriage are merely an act of lip service to the International Community.  Under the 2002 Civil Code, the legal age for a woman to marry in Turkey is 17, although courts are permitted to grant marriage under "exceptional circumstances" if the woman is 16.  However, within the nation, religious ceremonies for child marriage are held throughout the nation, and these marriage often do not go through the courts.  Although Turkish Law states that a religious marriage can only be recognized by a civil marriage, there are no sanctions against the practice in Turkish Law, and those who engage in it are seldom punished.  

Turkish Women Rally Against Child Marriage

Human Rights groups throughout Turkey have documented a number of reasons for these marriages to occur.  For some it is done out of poverty.  If a family cannot afford to take care of their children, they'll marry them off in the hopes that they'll have less children to take care of.  Religion is another reason.  Some Muslims believe that the marriage of children to older men is permissible as Muhammad, the founder of Islam, had a child bride, Aisha.  Others believe that by marrying a child off young, it preserves the family's honor by preventing the child from losing her virginity before marriage.  Although the majority of child marriages are arranged, there are times when children themselves agree to marry, typically they do this if they wish to escape an abusive household.  Due to the lack of knowledge of family planning and reproductive health, in most cases child marriage means adolescent pregnancy and motherhood. The TDHS found that teenage mothers were more likely to experience miscarriages, stillbirths, and maternity related mortality than mature women. Moreover, early childbearing hinders teenagers’ opportunities to access educational and job opportunities.  

Sadly, many child marriages in Turkey ultimately bring about great tragedy.  An anonymous Turkish woman testified in The Guardian that at the age of 14 she was nearly raped by a friend's brother who was 15 years her senior.  Instead of protecting her, her family took her out of school and demanded that she marry the man who tried to rape her.  When she refused they told her that unless she agreed to marry him, she wouldn't be allowed back in school.  Feeling as though she had not other choice, she agreed to marry and her family changed her birth certificate to make her sixteen so the Civil Courts would make the marriage official.  Not surprisingly, this girl's marriage was filled with physical and mental abuse, and when she sought a divorce, her abusive husband threatened to kill her.  

In 2022, the International Community was outraged to learn that in 2004, a woman was married against her will at the age of 6 to a 29-year-old man and she was unable to escape it until she filed a complaint about her forced marriage to the courts in 2020 and finally obtained her freedom two years later.  Astoundingly, the Islamist Justice & Development Party (AKP)  of Turkey actually tried to legitimize this practice by attempting to pass legislation in 2016 & 2020 that dictates that a rapist can avoid going to prison for raping a child if he marries his victim.  Although this law thankfully did not pass, Prime Minister Erdogan is not helping matters any.  

In July of 2022, Erdogan made the decision to pull Turkey out of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence.  For years we have been witnessing Turkey's gradual slide toward Islamism and unless this trend stops, the AKP just might one day get what they want, and child marriage will not only continue in Turkey, it will become legalized.  

Sources:

Akyol, Riada Asimovic.  "The Shocking Case of H.K.G., a Girl who was 'Married' at 6 and Sexually Abused for Years Afterward, Has Sparked a New Wave of Outrage."  New Line Magazine.  Jan. 09, 2023.  Accessed from https://newlinesmag.com/newsletter/the-child-bride-who-shook-turkey/.

"Child Marriage in Turkey."  UNFPA.  Accessed from https://eeca.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/unfpa%20turkey%20summary.pdf.

Cookman, Liz.  "Women and Vulnerable People are Paying for Turkey's Authoritarianism."  The Guardian.  Nov. 24, 2016.  Accessed from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/24/women-vulnerable-turkey-child-rape.

"I was a Turkish Child Bride.  We Need to be Protected from Rapists, not Married to Them.  Nov., 2016.  Accessed from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/23/turkish-child-bride-turkey-child-rapists-marry-victims.

Oppenheim, Maya.  "Marry-Your Rapists Bill Proposed to be Introduced by Lawmakers in Turkey."  Jan. 2020.  Accessed from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/turkey-marry-rapist-bill-child-marriage-a9296681.html.