Turkish bill to clear men of

Turkey

Turkish bill to clear men of child sex assault if they marry their victims

Government says legislation is aimed at custom of child marriages

Turkish women protest against a bill which would pardon some people imprisoned for statutory rape.
Turkish women protest against a bill which would pardon some people imprisoned for statutory rape. Photograph: Sedat Suna/EPA

AFP in Istanbul

Friday 18 November 2016 20.24 GMT Last modified on Friday 18 November 2016 20.33 GMT
A bill in Turkey that would overturn men’s convictions for child sex assault if they married their victim has provoked fury, with critics accusing the government of encouraging rape of minors with the proposals.

The opposition, celebrities, and even an association whose deputy chairman is the daughter of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed alarm over the move.

But the government insisted the legislation was aimed at dealing with the widespread custom of child marriages and the criticism was a crude distortion of its aim.

The measures were approved in an initial parliamentary reading on Thursday and will be voted on again in a second debate in the coming days.

If passed, the law would allow the release from prison of men guilty of assaulting a minor if the act was committed without “force, threat, or any other restriction on consent” and if the aggressor “marries the victim”.

The legal age of consent in Turkey is 18 but child marriage is widespread, especially in the southeast.

Dozens protested against the bill in central Istanbul, tearing up copies of the proposed legislation and brandishing slogans like “rape is a crime against humanity”.

“Until she is 18, a child remains a child, that is why this has to be condemned,” said protester Fadik Temizyurek.

The bill was brought to parliament by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

“The AKP is pushing through a text which pardons those who marry the child that they raped,” said an MP for the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Ozgur Ozel.

Prominent actor Nurgül Yeşilçay tweeted that “what we are talking about is not being a woman in this country, or being a man, but staying a human being”.

On Twitter, the hashtag TecavuzMesrulastirilamaz (Rape Cannot be Legitimised) became a top-trending topic as users took to social media to express their anger