The bill presented proposes suspension of punishment imposed on sexual abusers in case the abuser gets married with the sexually abused child.
Since AKP was not able to constitute the majority to pass the resolution, the discussion regarding the resolution has been postponed to Friday.
If passed, the law would allow the quashing the convictions of men convicted 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".
The bill has been brought to parliament by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)
The latest controversy comes after Turkey's constitutional court in July annulled a criminal code provision punishing as "sexual abuse" all sexual acts involving children under the age of 15.
RESPONSE OF BEKİR BOZDAĞ, THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, TO THE REACTIONS OVER THE RESOLUTION
The Minister of Justice, Bekir Bozdağ, in his attempts to respond to the reactions over the resolution, repeated AKP’s real intentions once again. While he stated that this resolution is not to be applied to rapists, he added that “it is going to be enforced on the ones who get married with the children”.
According to AKP’s minister, Bozdağ, “The resolution will be enforced on those who got married [imam marriage] but could not officially get married because of age restrictions and who get officially married later. This resolution only aims to protect the children born and families formed after this [religious] marriage in which the women are outside and man are inside”.
SUPPORT FROM A PRO-AKP BUSINESSMAN
The owner of a consulting firm known as pro-AKP and one of the MP candidates of AKP in the elections of 2011, Mehmet Ali Kulat, has made a statement to support this recent resolution. He claimed that “there are 1112 people jailed for the reason that they raped their own wife. This act is a hope for the victims whose fathers and husbands are in jail”.
