A Turkish bill that would pardon men accused of sexually assaulting girls under 18 if they agreed to marry their victims will be voted on this Tuesday — and many Turkish citizens are furious.
Supporters of the bill argue that the loophole only includes men who participated in consensual sex and does not amount to “amnesty for rape.” But detractors say that this is a flawed standard that merely qualifies rape, fails to account for the pressure girls may face by their families and society in general to accept the situation, and makes a mockery of the idea of “consent.”
After all, Turkey has one of the highest child marriage rates in the world — 15% of girls are married before they reach 18 — and many communities, particularly in the South of the country, regard the practice as normal.
More than 3,000 men in Turkey have already avoided prison for sexual assault of minors by marrying their victims. The bill would formalize a process that has profoundly and negatively affected thousands of girls.
Read More: Child Marriage: Everything You Need to Know
The main drivers of child marriage in Turkey include a dominant patriarchal culture that expects obedience from women, poverty, a recent influx of refugees, and an inadequate birth registration system that allows child marriages to occur unnoticed.
Earlier in the year, a constitutional court annulled a law that deemed all sexual acts involving a child under 15 sexual abuse.
As Global Citizen previously reported, “Turkey has come under scrutiny in recent years for providing inadequate protection against gender-based violence. A 2011 Human Rights Watch report revealed the extent of domestic abuse across the country, stating that 42% of women over the age of 15 in Turkey had experienced physical or sexual violence at the hands of a husband or partner. Last year alone, media reports suggest 300 women were killed by men in 2014.”
The new law would retroactively pardon men convicted of sexual assault between 2005-2016.
Over the past week, a diverse collection of human rights groups and ordinary citizens have taken to the streets to denounce the bill and demand its elimination. It’s a courageous display of dissent in an era of heightened repression following the failed coup over the summer.
Protesters see the bill as a vulgar validation of child marriage, a legitimization of rape, and a complete denial of a girl’s right to live freely and independently.
"Women march in İstanbul against child-rape-marriage proposal of Erdoğan's government." via @BarbarossaKayapic.twitter.com/J9wej1EBqD
— Turkey Deeply (@TurkeyDeeply) November 19, 2016
In Istanbul, thousands marched over the weekend, chanting: “We will not shut up. We will not obey. Withdraw the bill immediately.”
Marchers held signs that read, “Rape cannot be legitimised,” and “AKP, take your hands off my body.”
“Pardoning the crime of sexual assault, or dropping it due to prescription, is out of the question,” one protester told the AP. “People who commit sexual assault and rape crimes cannot be cleared.”
Read More: The Sick Way Rapists Are Avoiding Punishment in Turkey
“This proposal is clearly an attack on protecting children from sexual abuse,” The Turkish Bar Association’s Izmir Barosu said in a statement. “We must make clear that any regulation against the protection of sexual abuse of children has no place in the public conscience.”
“The proposed regulation is intended to institutionalise child abuse,” he said. “Physical and sexual violence against children and women is a crime.”
On Twitter, people are using the hashtag #TecavuzMesrulastirilamaz (Rape Cannot be Legitimized) to denounce the legislation. A petition on change.org has garnered more than 600,000 signatures, according to The Guardian.