Turkish government's human rights institution defends child marriages
The head of the state-run Turkey Human Rights and Equality Institution (TIHEK) defended underage marriages, and said that they should be differentiated from sexual assault. "People shouldn't be tried over shameful crimes just because they got married young," Süleyman Arslan said.
Duvar English
The head of the state-run Turkey Human Rights and Equality Institution (TIHEK) defended child marriages, and said that they should be differentiated from sexual assault.
"People shouldn't be tried over shameful crimes just because they got married young. This violate's people's rights, first and foremost of the children born into early marriages," TİHEK tweeted on Sept. 30.
Prof. Neşe Özgen, an academic, slammed the institution's use of the expression "early marriage."
"Did you create a norm for 'underage kids consenting to rape'? Rape was the only thing you hadn't defended!" the professor said.
"Don't try your justifications over innocent children. If there are no underage marriages, children won't have kids," the journalist said.
Meanwhile, journalist Emin Çapa said that TIHEK was an institution for "justifying perversion under the guise of human rights."