NOT KIDDING: Erdogan AKP wants to free thousands of RAPISTS who agree to MARRY THEIR VICTIMS

This is unbelievable.

Erdogan’s AKP ruling party in Turkey actually wants to free thousands of rapists if they agree to marry their victims.

This is actual legislation in the parliament they are trying to pass:

TURKISH MINUTE – Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has brought a motion to Parliament that proposes rapists in Turkish jails be released if they marry their victims, a way out of prison for more than 4,000 inmates convicted of rape.

The motion was brought to the floor of the General Assembly and was approved by AKP deputies despite the nay votes of both the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

According to CHP İstanbul deputy Barış Yarkadaş, the AKP’s proposal will release at least 4,000 rapists once it becomes law.

A majority of votes was lacking during the general assembly vote on the motion on Thursday, thus making it impossible to convert the motion to the status of a bill. At least 184 votes are needed in Parliament to pass a bill.

A second round of voting will take place on Friday.

According to the NY Times, this legislation deals only with ‘consensual’ statutory rape and not rape by force.

It was taken up today (Friday) in parliament and failed to pass. But it’s not over yet. They will bring it up AGAIN on Tuesday:

A debate flared in Turkey on Friday after a government proposal which would pardon some people imprisoned for statutory rape fell short of passage by legislators.

The proposal would defer sentencing or punishment for sexual assault in cases where there was no force and where the victim and perpetrator were married. Opposition legislators, rights groups and other critics warned that the proposal facilitates child marriage.

The proposal was introduced late Thursday by the ruling Justice and Development Party, rooted in Turkey’s Islamic movement, which says it is meant to protect those who were too young to marry legally. The proposal will be brought up again for consideration on Tuesday.

Just listen to the Justice Minister describe the rapists that this legislation targets:

“Those aren’t rapists, they aren’t people who committed sexual assault by force. Those are acts done with the consent of families and the young ones,” Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said on Friday, adding that the later law had ignored the matter of consent.

Amazing.

A Turkish advocate for the rights of children explains the mentality behind this, arguing that these people simply see child marriage as the solution to sexual abuse:

Mehmet Onur Yilmaz of Gundem Cocuk, a children’s rights organization whose operations were halted by the government last week, told The Associated Press the issue stemmed from not taking child marriage seriously.

“If there was an understanding that child marriage constituted sexual assault such a proposal would not even be brought up,” said Yilmaz. “This comes from looking at the matter with a focus on marriage, a conservative understanding which sees marriage as a solution to the problem of abuse.”

Child marriage is a huge problem in the Islamic world, with parents agreeing to allow their children of various ages to be married to older Muslim men for a multitude of reasons. Considering how honor killings are rampant in the Middle East, you can bet that many of these reasons are not good!

And now Turkey is trying to argue that child marriage is a way to nullify statutory rape and make it ok? Evil.

As a side note, I suspect that a big reason for this sudden legislation is to make more room for all the arrests they are making of the perpetrators of the so-called ‘coup’ last July. They even use the ‘coup’ as an excuse to continue the emergency rule they passed earlier this year.

They will put as many people in jail as they possibly can and they will need all the room they can get.


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