Turkey: a forced marriage case of a six-year-old child raises the question of the weight of religious communities

June 2020, in the center of Istanbul.

There are cases of forced marriages in Turkey and the recent affair of this young woman who married at the age of 6 made headlines.

Her father and ex-husband were sentenced.

AFP - YASIN AKGUL

Text by: Anne Andlauer

4 mins

For several days, a scandal of sexual abuse of a minor has shocked and moved Turkey.

A young woman filed a complaint against her parents.

She accuses them of forcibly marrying her off when she was 6 years old.  

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from our correspondent in Istanbul,

It is the story of a young girl who became a young woman of 24, known only by her initials: HKG She is the daughter of the leader of an Islamic foundation, the

, linked to one of the most influential communities nuns of Turkey, the İsmailağa community.

If we know her story, it is because in a complaint filed in November 2020, she accuses her parents, in particular her father, of having married her religiously by force at the age of 6 with a man of 29-year-old – a member of this community – who allegedly raped her from the start and throughout their marriage.

This is one of the many sordid details contained in the indictment, finalized only in October, and revealed recently by journalist Timur Soykan of the daily

.

The prosecution contains evidence, including photos and recordings of conversations between the complainant and her husband.

The prosecutor requested nearly 68 years in prison against the latter, and 22 years against the parents.

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The signals missed by the authorities

If the marriage was only officially celebrated when the young woman turned 18, signals should have alerted the authorities when she was still a child.

The victim notably consulted a gynecologist at the public hospital at the age of 14, her mother had then indicated that her daughter was married, which is illegal at this age.

The police were informed, an investigation was opened, but the family arranged to have the bone test (the one to determine the age of the teenager) taken by a 21-year-old woman, and the file was closed without continuation.

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The victim now lives far from his family.

She was granted a divorce and is awaiting trial in January.

Under pressure from public opinion, the ex-husband and the father were imprisoned on Thursday, December 15, 2022.

Debate revived around religious communities and their links with power

The İsmailağa community, of which the victim's father is an important member, is one of the main Muslim communities in Turkey.

Academic studies estimate that more than 2 million Turks maintain ties with one of these communities – whether they get directly involved in its activities, or simply visit a mosque linked to a community and build social relationships there.

For a century, these have known various fates, starting with their outright ban at the beginning of the secular Republic in 1925 – which is still supposed to be in force.

But it is undeniable that since the coming to power of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) in 2002, these communities have benefited from the benevolence of the authorities.

In the last elections, some called on their followers to vote for the current president, who visited their leaders.

The opposition accuses the authorities of not taking any measures to protect minors entrusted to these religious groups by their parents.

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Despite other recent scandals – scandals of sexual abuse in Koran classes or murderous fires in boarding schools belonging to these communities – they have always been largely spared justice.

Finally, since the failed coup of July 2016, they are suspected of having taken advantage of the massive purges in the public service to install their faithful there.

In the wake of the latest scandal, calls to permanently ban these communities are increasing, especially on social networks.

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