Yet, in one case the elderly man is appearing in court; in the second, he is legally married to his young bride and, according to media reports, enjoying a honeymoon on the Aegean coast.Toprak's children by his first marriage are incensed and challenging the validity of the union. Allegation of transfers of expensive jewelry to the family of the bride, if true, would confirm that the marriage, not surprisingly, has little to do with love.
It is, of course, not rare for wealthy old men to marry young women lured by power and deep pockets. One case that immediately springs to mind is that of Anna Nicole Smith, the former Playboy model who, in her mid-20s married a billionaire 63 years her senior. After he died, she spent most of her short life in court fighting off his children's legal challenges.
Smith, however, was a grown woman who had made a calculated decision in the hope that once a widow, she'd gain fame and fortune. Toprak's new wife, Nazlıcan, on the other hand, required parental permission to tie the knot since the Turkish Civil Code, introduced in 2002, places the age threshold for marriage at 18.
The social context is also radically different. Despite legal amendments, underage marriages, often concluded under pressure from the family, are still common in Turkey and too often prevent young women from completing their education, getting a job and generally reaching their full potential.
The recently founded parliamentary Commission on Equal Opportunities for Men and Women has formed a five-member sub-commission to investigate this social issue, which appears to resist the rapid societal changes Turkey has undergone in recent years.
The sub-commission chairperson, Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputy Öznur Çalık, announced last month that a staggering 30 percent of marriages contracted in Turkey still involve partners between the ages of 12 and 19. The rate rises to 47 percent among uneducated people. Eighty percent of those who marry at such a young age are girls, although a minority of boys are also encouraged to form a family in their teens.
Marriages that involve such wide age gaps are the exception rather than the rule, but marrying below or very near the legal limit is still widely tolerated by society, particularly in rural areas. Contrary to popular perceptions, however, the trend is not limited to the East and Southeast. Çalık explained that in Central Anatolia and even in İzmir, many teenagers tie the knot.
One woman I've known for years has often described to me the hardships she faced when she joined a large extended family in Central Anatolia as a 13-year-old bride. More than a wife, she was an unpaid servant required to get up in the middle of the night to chop and gather wood in the snow.
Her father, who had more children than he could feed, was only too happy to hand her over to a new family. In many cases, parents genuinely believe that marrying their daughter at a young age will prevent her from “going astray” and protect her from social pressure. The reality, however, does not always match their expectations.
When completed, this survey, conducted with the help of various ministries, state institutions and civil society organizations, will allow the relevant service to devise programs educating the public about the risks and drawbacks of such unions. Early marriage often means early motherhood and multiple births, which in turn are linked to high maternal mortality. Aside from the physical effects of early childbirth, girls married in such circumstances often face psychological difficulties later on.
None of this may be relevant to Toprak's new wife. Her parents were estranged, she barely knew her father and it is possible that she was attracted to a paternal figure. But, for the high school student, completing her education may have been a safer way of securing her future than tying her fate to that of a businessman whose companies and assets are under investigation.
