Related News
Turkey’s ruling party withdraws controversial child marriage bill
Print Edition
TURKEY’S ruling party has withdrawn a proposed bill allowing men accused of sexual abuse to avoid sentence — which critics say would prove a back door for under-age marriage.
The draft will now be reviewed, but a public uproar has persisted.
Opposition parties and civil society groups calling for it to be canceled entirely.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the draft will be withdrawn from the parliament’s general assembly and sent back to a commission for review and to seek the opinion of the opposition and civil society, in line with a call from President Tayyip Erdogan for a wider consensus.
The proposal, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, would have allowed sentencing to be indefinitely postponed in cases of sexual abuse committed “without force, threat or deception” before November 16, 2016, if the perpetrator married the victim.
“This issue will be reviewed in commission, and if there is a proposal we will review and amend it,” Yildirim said at a news conference in Ankara. “If not, we will solve the issue by taking into consideration the recommendations from the people and NGOs.”
The ruling AK Party’s bill drew condemnation from many, who said it would provide a legal basis for sexual abuse under the pretext of underage marriages.
The government said the bill would remedy the situation of men who were sent to jail after they married girls under the age of 18 in religious ceremonies and with the consent of their family. It rejected suggestions that the plan amounted to an “amnesty for rape.”
Several thousand people, some carrying banners saying ‘Rape can not be acquitted,’ ‘There is no such thing as child brides, only pervert men’ demonstrated outside the parliament to demand the immediate cancellation of the bill. Police fired pepper spray on one of the groups.
“As thousands of demonstrators have shown, women’s rights are not negotiable,” Gauri van Gulik, Amnesty International’s deputy director for Europe, said in a written statement.
“The government should help these families with concrete measures rather than disturbingly linking suspending sentences to marriage in any way. These proposals should be rejected once and for all,” she said.
The opposition and civil society groups want the proposal to be entirely dropped.
“No matter what everyone else says, this proposal promises an amnesty for rapists,” Devlet Bahceli, the leader of Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) said in a speech at the parliament. “I call on the AKP: Do not settle with pulling this proposal back to the commission. Drop it entirely.”
Civil marriage under the age of 18 is illegal in Turkey, but marriage between men and underage girls in religious ceremonies is not uncommon, particularly in rural areas. Some argued that such marriages were not abusive and the couples were simply unaware of the civil law.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
