Hamdi Firat BuyukSarajevoBIRNDecember 8, 202216:13Claims that a girl was married off well below the legal age by parents who belonged to a fundamentalist religious group drew condemnation from political parties, civil rights groups and the Turkish Religious Authority, Diyanet.
A child holds a poster during a gathering outside the parliament building to hand over a memorandum and petitions to end child marriage in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 13 November 2018. Photo: EPA-EFE/AHMAD YUSNI
Allegations by the daughter of a senior member of a fundamentalist religious group, who told a court after her divorce that she had been married at the age of six and been sexually abused since then drew broad condemnation in Turkey.
“Our children are our most … intangible value. Protecting the rights of the child and protecting the best interests of the child in all areas of life is a religious, legal and humanitarian responsibility,” Turkey’s Religious Authority, the Diyanet, said on Thursday, following criticism from every segment of the society and politics.
The Diyanet added that in Islam, it is forbidden for two individuals to get married before “they reach both physical and spiritual maturity, and before they reach the age of majority to understand the meaning and responsibility of starting a family”.
Investigative journalist Timur Soykan from the daily Birgun newspaper reported the case of alleged child marriage and sexual abuse on Saturday. Following the report, the case was condemned.
“We are with the victim, whoever the victim is, and we are against the guilty, whoever the guilty is,” Omer Celik, spokesperson of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party, AKP, wrote on Twitter.
The head of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, said everyone involved in child marriage was “dishonourable”. Meral Aksener, chair of the junior opposition Good Party said “they would not let this ‘meanness’ be whitewashed,”.
Left-leaning parties also condemned the case. The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party, HDP and Workers’ Party of Turkey, TIP, organised a protest in front of Hiranur Foundation, which belongs to the Ismailaga fundamentalist religious group.
The foundation’s building was closed by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality on Thursday.
Soykan’s article reported that Yusuf Ziya Gümüşel, founder of the Hiranur Foundation, linked to the Ismailaga sect, let his daughter H.K.G. be systematically subjected to sexual abuse by an adult male member of the sect and also by their neighbour.
He then engaged his daughter with this person at the age of 13 and married her to him at 14. She gave birth at the age of 17. Her official marriage was made when she was 18.
Later H.K.G. went to court, after her divorce in 2021, and opened a sexual abuse case. When her family, accused of permitting the abuse, and the offender, all denied the allegations, H.K.G. showed the court photographs of herself with these persons at the age of 6 and 13 as evidence.
In one photo, H.K.G is seen wearing a wedding dress when she was only six.
Child marriage is still a problem in Turkey. According a report of the IMDAT, a civil rights NGO focused on violence and child marriage, nearly 17 per cent of marriages in Turkey include a child partner. Some 2 per cent of marriages involve a child under 15.
Child marriages are common in rural areas and among members of fundamentalist religious groups.
By law, the legal age of marriage in Turkey is 18, though they can marry at 17 with the consent of their parents or legal guardians and at 16 with special permission from the courts ‘under exceptional circumstances”. The law and regulations have been criticised by rights groups for many years as too weak.
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