'Muftis' authorization to solemnize marriages paved the way for child abuse'

Photo: Güliz Sağlam, csgorselarsiv.org

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bianet talked to lawyer Beliz Özkan about the case of H.G.K. and about "early marriages" and child abuse in general.

Özkan told bianet about the recent legal amendments that paved the way to early marriages and added that all institutions in the system should fight together in order to protect children from being forced into marriage at an early age.

Özkan said, "H.G.K.'s mother, father, and the man he was forced into marriage with should be arrested. This should have been done earlier in the investigation stage but they should be arrested now too.

"There is the risk that they can escape or they can suppress evidence if they are not arrested.

"The most effective way of protecting children from being forced into marriages is that all institutions in the system should fight against this. The system should declare child marriages as a crime and see it as such."

According to the 2021 survey of the Statistics Institution of Türkiye (TÜİK) the age of first marriage is lower for women compared to men. The ratio of men marrying before the age of 18 is 4.4 percent while this ratio is 24.2 percent for women.

The ratio of men making their first marriage between 18-19 is 8.9 percent while this ratio is 23 percent for women.

Again according to the same statistics the total number of marriages in 2020 is 487.270. The number of girls married (forced into marriage) at child age is 13.014.

Lawyer Beliz Özkan reminds us that these are only the official figures and says, "we do not know the real numbers, it is possible to say that much more children are forced into marriage."

According to Özkan early marriage/child abuse cases increased following the circular authorizing muftis to solemnize marriages issued by the Directorate of Religious Affairs in 2018. According to this circular, the mufti can reject to carry out the procedure if there is any condition preventing such marriage. And the muftis are not authorized to solemnize marriages in cases where one party is a foreigner.

The opposition parties had objected to the circular at the time. Tur Yıldız Biçer, MP of the Republican People's Party also mentioned different doctrines in religion and argued that the principle of secularism was violated.

People's Democratic Party MP Meral Danış-Beştaş had said, "We are concerned that marriages at an early age will become prevalent with this regulation. There will be more cases of women being the 'spouse with imam marriage'."

"There is less trust in institutions"

Özkan also reminded that in this case the doctor had, in line with his/her responsibility, notified the police, after it was revealed that the child was abused at the age of 14 but that the prosecutor's office had closed the file. This was possible by the forensic medicine institution examining a 21-year-old woman instead of the 14-year-old child. Özkan says that such examples harm people's trust in such institutions.

The penalty is different in early marriages if the child is below 15 than when the child is 15 years old.

Özkan drew attention to the impunity in child marriages in general. She said, "In such cases usually there is no arrest until the judgment becomes final after the appeal and court of cassation stages. However, in the case of abuse of a 6-year-old child, there should be immediate arrests. There is no legal explanation for why there is none. Here, it would be correct from a legal point of view that the victim's mother, father, and the men she was forced into marriage be arrested."

Reminding of the Constitutional Court decision in 2015 regarding religious marriage ceremonies Özkan told bianet:

"Before 2015 it was a crime to perform a religious marriage ceremony when there was no civil marriage. The Constitutional Court has canceled this provision. Now it is possible to perform religious marriage ceremonies without civil marriage. This is another factor that paved the way to early marriages."

According to Özkan, the solution lies in building a system focusing on rights.

She says, "The most effective way of protecting children from being forced into marriages is that all institutions of the system should fight against this. The system should declare child marriages as a crime and see it as such."

What happened?

Timur Soykan from Birgün daily newspaper wrote on December 3 an article with the title "A dark world has swallowed a child. Only 6 years old in the darkness of a religious sect..."

Accordingly, Yusuf Ziya Gümüşel, who is the founder of the Hiranur Foundation linked to the İsmailağa sect married his daughter H.K.G. by imam marriage and let her be systematically subjected to sexual abuse by a man who is a member of the sect and also their neighbor, publicly engaged his daughter with this person at the age of 13 and married her to him at the age of 14, that she gave birth at the age of 17. She was officially married when she was 18.

Accordingly, H.K.G. went to court after her divorce in 2021 and opened a sexual abuse case. When her family, accused of permitting the sexual abuse, and the offender, denied the allegations, H.K.G. submitted to the court her photographs with these persons at the age of 6 and at the age of 13 as evidence.

After many reactions on social media, the Ministry of Family and Social Services announced on December 7 that they are going to intervene in the lawsuit concerning the allegations of H.K.G. (EMK/PE)