The report cited data from a number of institutions that had conducted surveys or prepared reports on early marriage, including the Women’s Consultation and Solidarity Center (KAMER), the Diyarbakır Bar Association’s Women Rights Center and the Diyarbakır Provincial Education Directorate.
According to data from the Diyarbakır Bar Association’s Women Rights Center cited in the report, 2,035 women contacted the center between January 2006 and July 2009. The figures showed that 1,719 of the women were married and 938 of them had married before they reached the age of 18.
KAMER’s data also showed that 45 percent of the 5,000 women who had applied to KAMER on the grounds that they had been exposed to domestic violence were married under the age of 18. According to KAMER, 15 percent of those women were married before they reached the age of 15 and 5 percent reportedly married below the age of 13. The Diyarbakır Provincial Education Directorate also reported that 65 students had recently left school because they were getting married or engaged in the province.
The report from the Diyarbakır Governor’s Office Human Rights Board prepared using this data cited a number of reasons for the prevalence of early marriage: traditions in place because of the persistent feudal structure of society in rural areas, strict and authoritarian father figures in the province resulting from a patriarchal family structure and low levels of education in the province. The report also suggested that early marriage deprives children of education and children who are forced to marry sometimes commit suicide or suffer from psychological disorders. “Forced marriages below the age of 18 are found to be prevalent in regions where a traditional way of life persists. Berdel [the practice of exchanging brides between families to avoid wedding/marriage expenses] and beşik kertmesi [a form of arranged marriage in which families betroth newborn children and force them to marry as soon as they come of age] also increases the number of early marriages,” the report noted.
As for proposals for a solution to early marriage, the report said state institutions have to do more work on the issue. “More training programs aimed at parental participation should be provided in schools, family consultancy services should be broadened and be made more effective, the schooling of girls should be enhanced and families preventing their daughters from going to school should be punished,” said the report.
