A part of the Turkish Civil Code will be regulated on the basis of sharia principles, if the government manages to put their new legal arrangement into practice.
The government in Turkey has been trying to replace civil marriage with an Islamic marriage ceremony on a legal basis for a while. One of the recent steps of the Turkish government has been to carry out legislative efforts, claiming that Arabs with Turkish citizenships have been aggrieved due to the current Turkish Civil Code in terms of certain issues such as guardianship and wards or the right of succession.
This way, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is attempting to adopt a new civil code regulation in accordance with polygamy and imam-sanctioned marriages as permitted in Islam.
Those who are citizens of Syria, Saudi Arabia or other Arab countries but who have been naturalized to Turkish citizenship, and who have children from their second or third marriages, have posed a problem for the Turkish Civil Code, the Law on the Civil Registration Services and other legal regulations. Using this as a pretext, the Turkish government has decided to prepare new legal regulations regarding the issue of guardians and wards to solve this problem.
The officials claim that otherwise, spouses and children of those who have been naturalized to Turkish citizenship would be aggrieved since problems will arise regarding the guardian and ward issue, claiming that they could not benefit from the right of succession.
The draft law on the issue is waiting to be discussed in parliament.
'PUBLIC ORDER AND PUBLIC MORALITY'
Officials are planning to give identity numbers to foreigners who do not have a residency permit in Turkey, and to arrange and provide the applicants relevant documents regarding demographic developments in Turkey. These documents will be stored in a special file, according to a report in Habertürk daily.
The requests of those who pose obstacles in terms of 'national security' can be rejected by the ministry. The Turkish government will change the criterion of 'public order' to 'public order and public morality' in order to prevent those who have been involved in 'disorderly behaviour' before marriage to acquire Turkish citizenship.
THE ISSUE OF SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
In the case that a citizen of a European country where same-sex marriage is legal acquires a Turkish citizenship, there are legal barriers on the official registration of their identity information under current legal regulations. Therefore, there are certain contradictions between the laws of their own countries and the Turkish Civil Code in terms of "acquired rights", and "international law and the principle of reciprocity" for these persons.
In Turkey, where only heterosexual marriage is officially allowed, there is no legal regulation regarding same-sex marriages.
Following the AKP's draft law that provides müftis, the highest religious servants in provinces and counties working within Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), with registering marriage ceremonies, imams, who are appointed by the State to work at mosques, had also been authorized for performing marriage ceremonies. Imam-sanctioned marriages are known to allow polygamous marriages for men
In 2015, the Constitutional Court of Turkey had adjudicated that a civil marriage is no longer compulsory for religiously married citizens, increasing concerns over risks of polygamy, violation of women rights and problems related to inheritance.
