The leader of Turkey’s main opposition party and some party officials on Monday marched from parliament to the headquarters of the Justice Ministry in Ankara to protest the government’s inaction over allegations of child abuse that recently became public, local media reported.
A Turkish court last week accepted an indictment seeking lengthy prison sentences for the ex-husband and parents of a young woman who filed criminal complaints against them alleging that she was sexually abused starting at the age of six and has been subjected to abuse ever since.
Turkey learned about the ordeal of the woman, identified only by the initials H.K.G, on Dec. 3 in an article written by Birgün daily columnist Timur Soykan, who said H.K.G., the daughter of a man affiliated with the İsmailağa community – a Sunni sect based in İstanbul – had been sexually abused by Kadir İstekli, a then-29-year-old neighbor and member of the community, when she was six.
According to Soykan, H.K.G. was engaged to İstekli at the age of 13, married him in a religious ceremony when she was 14 and became a mother at 17. Their official marriage reportedly took place when H. K.G. turned 18.
On Nov. 30, 2020, H.K.G. filed a criminal complaint against İstekli on charges of sexual abuse, in addition to her mother Fatma Gümüşel and father Yusuf Ziya Gümüşel, also the founder of the İsmailağa community-linked Hiranur Foundation, whom she accused of condoning the abuse.
Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on Monday made a statement in front of the ministry accusing the government of inaction on the case although they had known about H.K.G.’s allegations for the past two years.
“The family minister makes a statement [and] says they have known about this issue for two years. What have you done for the past two years, for God’s sake? … There is [an issue of] systematic rape and you have been keeping silent [about it] for two years. Fortunately, there are journalists in this country. They covered the news, and we heard about the issue,” the CHP leader said.
Kılıçdaroğlu added that it was “intolerable” for the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government to fail to make the state take action regarding the allegations, criticizing them for ignoring the injustices facing citizens.
The CHP leader demanded justice for H.K.G., emphasizing that 84 million people in the country feel her pain in their hearts and were angry at the injustices she had faced.
Meanwhile, the Federation of Women’s Associations in Turkey (TKDF) called on Derya Yanık, minister of family and social services, to resign in a written statement released on social media on Sunday.
Canan Güllü, head of the TKDF, said it was clear that Yanık didn’t have any concerns about preventing violence against children, adding that the minister’s lack of effort to speed up the judgment was “shocking.”
https://twitter.com/tkdfederasyon/status/1601826888187518976?cxt=HHwWgICx4azE6rosAAAA
The minister also drew criticism from Meral Danış Beştaş, a lawmaker from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), and Workers’ Party of Turkey (TİP) spokesperson Sera Kadıgil for having failed to have H.K.G.’s parents and ex-husband arrested or at least publicly condemned.
The indictment drafted by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office seeks 67 years, 10 months and 15 days in prison for İstekli and 22 years, six months in prison for each of H.K.G.’s parents on charges of “successive child molestation.”
The first hearing of the trial is set for May 22, 2023.
H.K.G.’s allegations sparked outrage in Turkey, which has “one of the highest rates of child marriage in Europe,” with an estimated 15 percent of girls married before the age of 18 and 2 percent married before the age of 15, according to the campaign group Girls Not Brides.
Although the minimum legal age of marriage is 18 years in Turkey, the law allows parties to marry at 17 with parental consent, or, in exceptional circumstances, a court may grant approval for marriage at age 16.
