Turkish religious body slammed for suggesting little girls as young as 9 could marry
Turkey's state religious affairs body, Directorate of Religious Affairs,
is under fire for suggesting that girls as young as 9 could marry.
Causing calls for an inquiry and the dismantling of the scandal-tainted
organization.
Its
online glossary of Islamic terms, which has since been removed, defined
marriage as an institution that saves a person from adultery and said
girls can marry when they reach puberty - as early as age 9.
Turkey's
main opposition party has called for an investigation into the
Directorate of Religious Affairs, or Diyanet,
accusing it of inciting
underage marriages. Social media users joined a campaign demanding the
closure of the body that oversees mosques and imams and has frequently
courted controversy.
However,
in its defence, Diyanet has vehemently denied approving underage
marriages, saying that "our directorate has never in its history
approved of child marriages and never will."
Deputy
Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag accused the media of manipulating
definitions in the glossary to make the government look as though it
supports child marriages. Adding that it was the religious body's duty
to interpret terms according to Islamic laws, not civic laws.
This
was the same organization that caused an outcry when they previously
issued an online fatwa, suggesting that a father can lust after his
daughter. However, after the outrage, the fatwa was quickly retracted.
The
legal age for marriage in Turkey is 18. Women's rights groups say
underage marriage is widespread despite the laws and accuse authorities
of not taking sufficient steps to protect girls from becoming "child
brides."
In
2016, the government scrapped a proposal that critics said would have
allowed men accused of statutory rape to go free if they were married to
their victims, following similar outrage.
Source: AP
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