A law promoted by President Erdogan's Justice and Development Party will allow pardons for men who raped minors if they marry the victim • Women's organizations hold protest rallies
His party promotes the move, President Erdogan // Photo: Reuters
Turkish Justice and Development Party Recipient Taipei Erdogan introduced a new law on parliament today that will allow pardons for men who have raped minors if they agree to marry the victim.
The law, which came to a pre-trial hearing on Jan. 16, would allow for a suspended sentence for rapes and perpetrators of minor sex offenses if the victim and the rapist are married and their age difference is no more than ten years.
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State organizations have argued that the act would force many minors to marry the men who raped them in order to maintain their family's respect and put pressure on the minors to accept the deal.
Opposition party activists have argued that the law would allow statutory rape and legitimize minor marriages. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the law was intended to address the issue of underage marriage in the country.
Istanbul police confront protesters against law // Photo: IP
The British Guardian quoted Fiden Atasals, chairwoman of "Stop the Murder of Women," that the law is an attempt to erase testimony to unprecedented sexual violence in a country that harms minors in the weakest strata in Turkey.
The organization claims that more than 2,600 women have been murdered by their partners in the past decade, with the number of murderers steadily rising every year. According to United Nations data, 38 percent of women in Turkey have experienced sexual assault.
In 2016, Erdogan's Justice and Development Party tried to pass a similar law but the parliament, which was ruled by the opposition at the time, rejected the law. Now that the ruling party holds a large majority in parliament, there is concern that the law will pass.