Child marriage in Turkey

It is a controversial political issue, and a topic of contention between liberal and conservative segments of society.

[10] According to the Gaziantep University research, the proportion of child marriages in the city of Şanlıurfa is around 60%, whereas that in İzmir, known for its cosmopolitanism, is around 16-17%.

[2] According to the Turkish Statistical Institute, the following provinces had the highest proportions of child marriage in 2013 (all between 35% and 42%): Yozgat, Nevşehir, Niğde, Kahramanmaraş, Kilis, Muş, Siirt, Bitlis, Van, Ağrı, Kars and Ardahan.

[10] According to a 2018 Turkish report regarding child marriage in Turkey a total of 482,908 girls were married in the last 10 years.

[3] Official reports indicated that 675 girls who were enrolled in primary schools had dropped out during the course of the year in 2009 due to marriage or betrothal, as opposed to 18 boys.

[13] Turkish Civil Code also maintained a minimum marriageable age of 15 for girls until a change in 2002.

[14] In 2016, the governing Islamist [citation needed] conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP) sought to introduce legislation which would have made child rape no longer punishable if the perpetrator would offer to marry his victim; this was withdrawn after a public outcry against what was widely seen as an attempt of "legitimising rape and encouraging child marriage".