Turkish government withdraws controversial child sex bill

In a surprising move, the Turkish government withdrew a bill which proposed that the sentence of men convicted with child-sex assault cases, could be overturned if they married their victims.

This controversial bill had drawn massive criticism from the opposition parties as well as the public and thousands had taken up to the streets in order to register their protest.

Critics had claimed that the bill would allow the release of sex assault convicts from jail on the condition of them marrying their victims, which would in turn legitimize rape of minors. The reversal of this bill marks a rare concession to popular opposition by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which had been in power since 2002.

“We are taking this bill in parliament back to the commission in order to allow for the broad consensus the president requested, and to give time for the opposition parties to develop their proposals,” Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told a news conference in Istanbul. “This commission will evaluate and take into account all sides and surely a solution will be found.”

When it became evident that the controversial bill would lead to protests on the streets and a divide in the parliament, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had called for a compromise, but the ruling party asked for a complete boycott of the bill. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said later on Tuesday the issue was “now closed” and would only return to the agenda “in the future if political parties can secure a broad consensus”.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=54177

Posted by fatimaarshad on Nov 23 2016. Filed under Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.