TOLLE The case of a woman who filed a complaint in 2020 against her ex-husband and his parents, whom she accuses of forcibly marrying her when she was six years old, caused an outcry in Turkey. And turns against the government, accused of leniency
Tense discussions in Turkish parliament on December 11, 2022 (Photo illustration). — Adem ALTAN/AFP
“The child has spoken, you have kept it. silence, but we will not be silent!”… The tension has risen. in the night of Saturday at the Turkish parliament whereù opposition MPs strongly protested; against ministers whom they accuse of inaction to about a case of sexual abuse of a minor which caused an outcry in the country.
“Resign!” chanted opposition MPs holding placards hand when Family Minister Derya Yanik spoke during the budget debates at the Turkish assembly. Many deputies also struck on their pews and boo the Minister.
A complaint dating from 2020
When Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu took the floor, elected officials launched their placards in protest. The case of a woman who filed complaint against her ex-husband and her parents, whom she accuses of forcibly marrying her off when she was six years old, has sparked this week an outcry; in Turkey. This woman’s father is an influential leader of a religious brotherhood, of which her ex-husband is also a member.
Now aged 24 and divorced, the victim claims to have been sexually abused since the age of six. The victim filed his complaint in 2020 in this case where no arrests have yet been made.
Timur Soykan, the Turkish journalist who revealed the affair by publishing excerpts from the deposition of the young woman, was victim of a lynching campaign on social networks by conservative groups who accused him of “an’insult” Islam”.
Erdogan Accused of leniency
The Turkish opposition accuses the Islamic-conservative government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan of leniency towards the religious brotherhoods and of not taking the necessary measures to protect minors entrusted to these groups by their parents.
“Child sexual abuse and violence against women is a subject that goes beyond politics. We cannot allow victims to be used political ends,” Derya Yanik.