×

Our award-winning reporting has moved

Context provides news and analysis on three of the world’s most critical issues:

climate change, the impact of technology on society, and inclusive economies.

Turkey's AK Party to review controversial bill on underage marriage

by Reuters
Tuesday, 22 November 2016 06:46 GMT

Students takes pictures as Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan (not pictured) makes a speech during a ceremony to mark the start of the new school year at Ahmet Sani Gezici Girls' Imam Hatip School in Istanbul, Turkey, September 28, 2015. REUTERS/Murad Sezer

Image Caption and Rights Information

ISTANBUL, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Turkey's ruling AK Party is withdrawing a proposed bill on underage marriage for further consultations, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Tuesday, after opposition and rights groups said it could allow men accused of sexually abusing girls to avoid punishment.

The proposal, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, would have allowed sentencing in cases of sexual abuse committed "without force, threat or trick" before Nov. 16, 2016 to be indefinitely postponed if the perpetrator marries the victim.

Yildirim said the AKP would seek the opinion of the opposition and civil society groups in order to reformulate the proposal, in line with a call from President Tayyip Erdogan for a wider consensus.

He has said the plan, which will be withdrawn from parliament's general assembly and taken back to a commission, aims to remedy the situation of men who are in jail and are married to women under 18 in a religious ceremony and with the consent of their family.

(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Tuvan Gumrukcu; Writing by Nick Tattersall)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

-->