Turkish Authorities Invalidate a Marriage

What century is this again? There are many different examples of consenting adults being denied their freedom to marry. In Turkey, family members and authorities are trying to break apart a couple after they were officially married, according to this report at todayszaman.com...

A 30-year-old İstanbul man has married his niece, sparking a criminal investigation after the bride's family filed a complaint against local officials who officiated the wedding, Turkish media reported on Sunday.

The man, identified only as F.K., married 24-year-old university student Ş.K. in September of 2010 in Bağcılar, İstanbul, a report in the Habertürk daily said.

They are adults. What is the problem?

Ş.K.'s parents found out by chance that their daughter had actually married four months ago, but the young woman refused to tell them who her husband was when confronted and the couple disappeared the next day.

The family had learned about their daughter's marriage to her uncle after inquiring about the marriage at the civil registry office. Shocked, the parents demanded the marriage be annulled and filed a complaint against officials who officiated the wedding.

Who are the married couple harming?

The prosecutor's office has ruled that the marriage is invalid despite the official ceremony and have also launched a probe against the chief official at the Bağcılar Civil Registry Office and the Bağcılar Municipality official who officiated the wedding for allowing the marriage to take place.

What a waste of public resources. Really. There are people out there assaulting other people. Why not worry about that? No indication is given exactly how the uncle and niece are related, as in by blood or marriage or through mother or father. Regardless, an adult should be free to share love, sex, residence, and marriage with any consenting adults.

Marriage in Turkey

This article discusses a report on marriage, and also gender inequality, in Turkey.

Though polygamous marriages are not legally recognized in Turkey, more than 186,000 women share their husbands with a second wife, a practice that is particularly common in the country’s east, a recent report has revealed.

Second wives are married in religious or cultural ceremonies, and generally are eligible for few legal protections, according to the report by two academics, who presented their research to the Parliamentary Commission on Equal Opportunity for Women and Men.

Legalization would provide legal protections. In addition to polygyny, there are a significant number of consanguineous marriages…

The research also revealed that 12.4 percent of marriages are between first-degree relatives, something that affects 1,700,062 women, mostly in the southeast. Matches between first-degree relatives account for 29 percent of marriages in southeastern provinces, 22 percent in central-eastern Anatolia and 18 percent in the northeast.

I would like to see Turkey, along with many other countries, move towards gender equality and full marriage equality.