Marriage Registration by Sunni Muftis in Turkey Becomes Official

The Turkish parliament has approved a legal amendment allowing Sunni clerics in the country to register marriages alongside official authorities. Prior to this amendment, under Turkey's secular government law, municipalities and official offices were the only recognized authorities for marriage registration, similar to many European countries, although couples in Turkey often held both formal and informal marriage ceremonies. The proposal for this new amendment, suggested by the Justice and Development Party, was passed in the late hours of Wednesday, October 18, sparking a wave of reactions among the government's secular opponents and women's rights activists. The Republican People's Party stated that it considers the amendment unconstitutional, arguing that laws in the country should not be subordinate to religious laws. Critics also claim that the approval of this amendment undermines equality between Sunni Muslims and other religious minorities. Nevertheless, last week, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated that this law would be passed 'regardless'. Previously, under a law enacted in 1926, those who registered their marriage only through 'religious' means faced imprisonment. Proponents of the amendment argue that due to the lack of access to official marriage registration centers, this law had not been implemented in many parts of the country. According to CNN Türk, Suleyman Soylu, Turkey's Interior Minister, stated that the new amendment would not change any existing laws. He noted that marriage registration would still occur in municipalities and public offices and at embassies abroad. The Interior Minister emphasized that this law is intended for marriage registration in remote areas where access to municipalities and public offices is limited but where religious clerics are more accessible. Women's rights advocates believe that the official recognition of this law will increase the statistics of forced marriages and child marriages. In 2016, the Turkish government also prepared a draft law that exempted individuals who raped underage girls from punishment if they married the victim. The government insisted that this amendment was aimed at combating the practice of marrying off young girls, but critics argued that it legitimized child rape. Following widespread public protests, the government abandoned the approval of this bill. The legal marriage age in Turkey is 18, but child marriage, especially in the southeast of the country, is quite common.