A BILL IN Turkey that would overturn men’s convictions for child sex assault if they married their victim has provoked fury with critics accusing the government of encouraging rape of minors with the proposals.
The country’s opposition, celebrities, and even an association whose deputy chairman is the daughter of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed alarm over the move.
But the government insisted the legislation was aimed at dealing with the widespread custom of child marriages and the criticism was a crude distortion of its aim.
The measures were approved in an initial parliamentary reading on Thursday and will be voted on again in a second debate in the coming days.
If passed, the law would allow the release from prison of men guilty of assaulting a minor if the act was committed without “force, threat, or any other restriction on consent” and if the aggressor “marries the victim”. [TheJournal.ie] Read more
