Bizarre, Criminal law, Religion, Society

Turkey Advances Bill That Would Allow Rapists To Avoid Charges If They Marry Their Victims

We have seen the erosion of civil liberties with the rise of the Islamic parties in Turkey under the autocratic rule of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Like many Muslim countries, Turkey has a long and troubling history of child brides and arranged marriages. Recently, the Turkish Constitutional Court annulled a provision that punishes all sexual acts against children under the age of 15 as “sexual abuse.” Now, a bill which would allow men accused of raping underage girls to be cleared if they marry the girl has been preliminarily backed by Turkish MPs. Notably, the bill would pardon men only if they had sex without “force or threat” and if they married the victim. However, that would legitimate child marriage.

Violence against women has risen under Erdoğan — 40% of women report sexual or physical abuse. It has increased an incredible 1,400% between 2003 and 2010. The reign of the Islamic parties has contributed to this trend in the view of many critics.

The government insists that some rapists do not realize that they are committing a crime and this bill seeks to rehabilitate them. They say it will also protect underaged girls from being ostracized by their community by having them marry their rapists. Again, the bill is being pushed by Erdoğan’s Islamic supporters.

23 thoughts on “Turkey Advances Bill That Would Allow Rapists To Avoid Charges If They Marry Their Victims”

  2. I’m finding it hard to come up with a comment that is printable under the civility rules.

    Suffice it to say that I have a ^*^*(^*((*^(*^(*^*(^(*^*^*^*^b problem with little girls being forced to marry their pedophile rapists. It doesn’t sound like anyone is concerned with their opinion. And the shame forced upon rape victims in many places around the world are deplorable, often ending in either honor killings or suicides.

    My heart just breaks for those poor girls. I remember when the poor victims of Ariel Castro’s decade long kidnapping were saved, I thought about all the females enslaved around the world, in forced marriages, or otherwise abused. They have no hope and no help and few rights. There have not been many of the Boko Haram girls who’ve escaped. They’re just gone. Stuck forever with rapists or dead.

    Count your blessings this Thanksgiving, and pray for those who are suffering.

    1. Karen – didn’t Obama promise his daughters he would save those Boko Haram girls?

      2. Well, they sent this really poignant Tweet about “bring back our girls.” Super effective.

        We’ll change our FB profile, wear a ribbon, or put a sticker on our car, but that’s about it. War is a terrible thing. But, honestly, sometimes I want to evac all the women and children out of a place and leave the men in power to rot in frustration with no one to subjugate.

      3. Paul, HRC as SoS refused to designate Boko Haram as terrorists. Something about Nigerian oil monies and the Clinton Foundation. But she LOVES women and children. Damn, I’m glad she’s gone. And I hear the donations are declining – no play no pay.

  4. very sad to see Turkey turning back into a theocratic state. Ataturk must be whirling in his grave.

  6. When I was growing up this was a standard defense to statutory rape or rape, depending what they charged you with. I am not happy with this, but I understand it.

  7. Turkey, Turkey bo burkie..
    banna fanna fo furkie…
    fee fi mo murkie…
    Turkey.

    If the Muslim countries are ever the same..
    You fly over and flush and say the name..

  9. So, in a culture where men are legally authorized to attack and brutalize women, it makes perfect sense for women to cover themselves from head to toe in black sheets so that they can hide a weapon under there in case they are attacked, or is that outlawed by Sharia law?

    1. That’s beautiful – music and video. I’ve only ever been to LA once and it was a strange experience. But good food and cocktails!

  11. Squeek if you are still out there in “Turleyland” — I went to compose a list of German films for you and came across a very dark series called “Altes Geld” (old money) which was so captivating I lost my train of thought. I would NOT it recommend to the literal or faint of heart folks as it is truly devastating. BUT I think you would appreciate it!

    Anyhoo, aside from that series here is my list:

    Schultze feels the Blues – quirky film about an East German winding up on the bayou

    Edukators – anarchist/SJWs

    Good Bye Lenin! – family creates charade that East Germany still exists

    The Lives of Others – life in East Germany under the Stasi spies

    Nowhere in Africa – German colonialists having to move back

    Edge of Heaven – German/Turkish on the road film

    Woman in Flames – bored housewife leaves husband to start sexworker career

    The Edge of Heaven – multi culti issues with Turks and Germans

    The Wave – social experiment on totalitarianism

    The White Ribbon – village sanctions punishment

    Europa, Europa – Jewish boy tries to hide amongst the Hitler Jugend

  12. Speaking of Turkey, when I do join family and friends in a few days to indulge in far too much turkey with dressing on Thanksgiving, I will be conscious to give thanks for the privileges and the blessings that I enjoy in this great country. Privileges and blessings that are inconceivable possibilities in many parts of the world. Privileges and blessings that I, admittedly, take for granted, having known no other system. Privileges and blessings that are a direct result of our Founding Fathers basing our laws on Judeo-Christian concepts. Turkey, once a relatively civilized nation–considering its surrounding savage and barbaric neighbors–is now sliding and sinking into an Islamic abyss. Turkey was considered civilized merely because, for decades, Islam, and all the repellent laws that it instigates, was kept at a distance. Well, for the most part. The loss of any sense of safety and sanity in that country is now, undeniably, directly related to the resurgence of Islam in its government and its policies. While our resident Muslim will, no doubt, be roused from his bed and forced to spout the false virtues of Islam and its supposed protective laws regarding women, the truth is more than evident. Islamic societies treat their women, not to mention their children, in a beastly manner. Is there one, among us, willing to relocate to a country run by Islamic law? Yeah. Don’t all get up at once.

    1. Privileges and blessings (indeed, NOT rights, certainly not God-given rights) you have ONLY because you give them what they want.
      Why wouldn’t you be ‘free’ (i.e. left alone), you’re free to say what they want you to say, you’re free to do what they want you to do, you’re free to give what they want you to give.

      People in the west tend to think they have the right to chose their profession because of some social struggle that happened ages ago. Only few realize they’re free to choose because the ‘owners’ (google George Carlin on this) know it will make the produce more…

      If you want/need this explained more thoroughly, search ‘the story of your enslavement’ on YouTube. Go get a clue :p

  13. Is this where the peace and love part comes in with the Islamic religion? You think after the horror and trauma does the victim get a wedding cake too?

    1. All religions have issues like this. In some of the thousands of versions of Christianity, it’s okay to have 700 concubines. Do you want to go down that road?

  14. Well, this practice actually has a long history, and is not uncommon even today. Here is a brief excerpt from Wiki, with a link where there is much more information:

    Bride kidnapping, also known as marriage by abduction or marriage by capture, is a practice in which a man abducts the woman he wishes to marry. Bride kidnapping has been practiced around the world and throughout history. It continues to occur in countries in Central Asia, the Caucasus region, and parts of Africa, and among peoples as diverse as the Hmong in Southeast Asia, the Tzeltal in Mexico, and the Romani in Europe.

    In most nations, bride kidnapping is considered a sex crime rather than a valid form of marriage. Some types of it may also be seen as falling along the continuum between forced marriage and arranged marriage. The term is sometimes used to include not only abductions, but also elopements, in which a couple runs away together and seeks the consent of their parents later; these may be referred to as non-consensual and consensual abductions respectively. However, even when the practice is against the law, judicial enforcement remains lax in some areas, such as Moldova, Kyrgyzstan and Chechnya.

    Bride kidnapping is distinguished from raptio in that the former refers to the abduction of one woman by one man (and his friends and relatives), and is still a widespread practice, whereas the latter refers to the large scale abduction of women by groups of men, possibly in a time of war (see also war rape).

    Some cultures today maintain symbolic bride kidnapping ritual as part of traditions surrounding a wedding, in a nod to the practice of bride kidnapping which may have figured in that culture’s history. According to some sources, the honeymoon is a relic of marriage by capture, based on the practice of the husband going into hiding with his wife to avoid reprisals from her relatives, with the intention that the woman would be pregnant by the end of the month.[1]

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bride_kidnapping

    One could also mention the Sabine Women, or this really kewl song:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCUeqCXNoYI

    Squeeky Fromm
    Girl Reporter

Comments are closed.