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TURKEY’S RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS state agency came under heavy criticism today from the main opposition party after it reportedly said girls as young as nine could marry under Islamic law.
The Diyanet religious affairs directorate said on Tuesday the minimum age for girls to marry was nine, while for boys it was 12, according to Turkish media including Hurriyet daily, quoting the agency’s official website.
The post, which took the form of an explanatory statement on Islamic law, has since been taken down, after a backlash from the opposition and women’s rights groups.
The head of the High Commission of Religious Affairs Ekrem Keles today told Hurriyet that the earliest age for a girl to marry is 17 and 18 for a boy.
“Forget a nine or a 10 year old child marrying, a child at 15 should not marry and should not be married,” he said.
The legal age to get married in Turkey is 18.
But Turkish law says that in an extraordinary circumstance, a judge can give permission for a male and female aged 16 to marry.
The controversy touched a nerve in Turkey, where child marriages are not uncommon and the fight continues to raise girls’ level of education.
Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) lawmaker Gaye Usluer accused the government of being “more interested in how to marry children at a young age when there needs to be talk on children’s education, health”.
Meanwhile CHP lawmaker Murat Bakan on Twitter said child marriages “violates children’s rights, women’s rights and human rights”, adding that the party had called for a parliamentary investigation into child marriages.
Women’s rights groups also criticised the agency, which is similar to a religious affairs ministry, accusing it of trying to legitimise child abuse and urging Diyanet to “get their hands off our children”.
The ministry said it had “never and will never approve early marriages” in a statement, saying it was only defining Islamic law.
“Forcing girls to marry before psychological and biological maturity, and before they obtain the responsibility to become a mother and form a family is not compatible with Islam which says will and consent are conditions for marriage,” it added.
Women’s groups as well as Usluer raised concern over Diyanet’s move coming after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan approved a controversial law in November allowing state-approved clerics to conduct marriage ceremonies.
“When we said ‘if you give muftis (clerics employed by Diyanet) the power to conduct marriages, the issue of child brides will increase’, this is what we meant,” she said, according to CHP’s website.
Opponents often claim that Erdogan and his Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party are attacking the republic’s secular foundations, claims dismissed by the government.
In 2016, the government was forced to throw out a bill that could have pardoned men convicted of child-sex assault after a public outcry.
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Little Island should be also within the city boundary as it goes right up to the Tunnel and Dunkettle.A big mistake to leave it in the county.
@Padraig: What about Douglas, you can actually walk out to Douglas and yet it’s still in the county, madness! Little Island is not really part of the city imo.
@Padraig: What that county councillor is saying is absolutely hilarious. He’s complaining about development outside the city sucking the life out of the city! Sure twas the focking county council themselves who planned all that, is he soft in the head or what?
To sum up Cork city just look at the bus station 1950s
@number24eu: and that was only redone a few years ago!!!
@number24eu: do you honestly think they will spend the extra money on a bus station, most likely give themselves a raise first as they have a bigger area to represent ! Just take a look at the mess they have made of the whole conference hall developement, God alone knows what they will do with the extra areas the have…these boys/girls have a history of fcking things up.
@number24eu: Not just the bus station the whole city looks like it never moved on from the 1950s
@Dave O Keeffe: are you joking … no you are not are you
@zippo: it the same down in Bantry
@number24eu: I’m definitely not joking
@number24eu: to sum up Dublin just look at Bus Aras, 1950s… you didn’t think that one through did ya?!
@zippo: Perhaps they will flog off some of the extra land to the GAA just as they did with the old Cork Showgrounds, no doubt the grab all association are watching this very closely just to see what might be in it for them.
@Dave O Keeffe: What exactly is wrong with the bus station? It’s not the worst in the country by any stretch of the imagination, and it’s very centrally located, which is what you’d want.
@Alan Scott: says the man from Tipperary
Great for the city, not so great for the county, especially Ballincollig which is thriving on its own and has gone from village to one of the fastest growing towns outside Dublin and to the biggest town in Cork within a mere 25 years. Now sucked into city rates, diluted identity and bureaucratic outside administration. Its little wonder there’s a divide!
@The Dons: if anybody wants to look at a city councils total neglect of one section of the city, then look at the disaster that is Blackpool village.
@The Dons: This will do Ballinacollig no harm whatsoever. The city is the region’s entire engine driver. Ballinacollig and Glanmire would be absolutely nothing without the city down the road. There should be a light rail developed between Ballinacollig and City centre now – it’s flat and the critical mass is there to justify it.
do they do fly flags down there like the way DCC do.
Now if they could get their fingers out in Waterford and also get approved for the city boundary extension would be great for the future of the city to survive
Why was this so straight forward but Waterford city expansion was rebuffed. In fact both Waterford and limerick got a downgrade
@Alan Murphy: Alan let me assure you this was anything but straight forward. This has been rumbling on for many a year now.
A city population that has remained near on stagnant for 40 yrs, a terrible indictment on successive councils ! These boys couldn’t get a helium balloon off the ground in this city , pathetic.
Double the population overnight?
Eienstein!
@Eugene Walsh: time for the city council to encourage ridin’ then.
“We want the city to expand out.”
Why would want that? Why would you want more sprawl? Build up for jaysus sake. Bloody stupid. I’m from Glanmire and there are cows in the field next door to our garden. But you’re telling me this is part of the city? Nonsense.
@B Collins: But the optics of it isn’t a real excuse here. Whats in it for the likes of Glanmire and Ballincollig? Absolutely nothing! Whats in it for the city, higher and more rates and a land grab! Simples, city won and the county lost on all fronts.
@B Collins: the reason why there are cows is because the city has been restricted there’s plenty of room in cork county for the cows
Surely the only fair way would be to have a local referendum for the county area to see what the people want. That is democracy.
@John Hagin Meade: we live in a representative democracy. We vote for the people that we want to make the decisions
Most people in Ballincollig commute to the city to work you can’t have your cake and eat it )
@David MC: That would make sense only that the second biggest employers in Munster are in Ballincollig, Dell EMC and VM Ware, and they don’t all live in Ballincollig either.
@David MC: And most people in Naas commute to Dublin, is that a reason to change county lines? Naas, County Dublin. Doesn’t have the same ring to it
The infrastructure needs to be drastically improved before any further development occurs including North Link and Cork Limerick motorway.
All for development and progression but the infrastructure in the area is poor at best and needs to be drastically improved before any further development occurs including a North Ring and Cork Limerick motorway.
Badly managed city will become bigger badly managed city
The infrastructure in the ares is poor at best and needs to be drastically improved before any further development occurs including a North Ring and Cork/Limerick motorway.
is douglas included if not it should be
have your say