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| Europe |
| 13yo ’sold’ to her rapist |
| 2004-07-01 |
| A 13-year-old Turkish girl was married off by her family to her rapist who paid them "the price of a truck" to escape a long jail sentence, newspapers in Istanbul reported today. The story came to light when public officials realised her family had tried to change her age to 16 to make the marriage legal. The girl, from the village of Damlibogaz, in western Turkey, was 10 years old when a family friend, aged 20, started sleeping with her. The rapes continued for a year before she fell pregnant and gave birth to a girl. Her rapist, Ferit Cicek, was sentenced to 18Âœ years in jail. His family then promised the girl’s family 10 billion Turkish pounds ($9600) for an arranged marriage which would allow the young man to walk free. Turkish law currently allows sharp reductions in prison sentences for rapists who agree to marry their victims. In 2002, 546 men took advantage of the procedure and another 163 in the first four months of 2003, according to official figures. Parliament is in the process of amending the law to close the loophole. The young girl was married off by her farm-working parents last month in a ceremony at the local prison after they, and two witnesses, testified before a court that she was three years older than officially believed. The parents now face a prison sentence of three to eight years for lying to public officials. "They sold me for 10 or 12 billion pounds. With it, my father wanted to buy himself a truck," the young girl told reporters. Her father also accepted to be interviewed by reporters in exchange for money. "I’ve got to think of myself," he told Aksam newspaper. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #14 hear the fucking crickets Zen? That's the feminist majority sitting on their collective asses |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-07-01 10:13:52 PM |
| #13 jules and Barbara, thank you for the lumps that I, perhaps only, partially deserve. I still refuse to believe that this world can be so blinded by partisan politics as to ignore such blatant simultaneous affronts to both reason and ethics. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-07-01 9:54:05 PM |
#12 Anyone care to bet what sort of lather (and rightfully so) women's rights advocates will work up over this little chestnut?Well, that's a silly question, Zenster. How very non-multicultural of you. Since the "men" in question are (a) not white, (b) not Christian, and especially (c) not American, the so-called "women's rights" groups in this country (and the rest of the West) won't say anything at all. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-07-01 7:52:30 PM |
| #11 Anyone care to bet what sort of lather (and rightfully so) women's rights advocates will work up over this little chestnut? Sadly, with the exception of me and perhaps a handful of others, they are busy salivating over Bill & Hillary at the DNC book lovefest. |
| Posted by: jules 187 2004-07-01 4:57:22 PM |
| #10 Turkish law currently allows sharp reductions in prison sentences for rapists who agree to marry their victims. In 2002, 546 men took advantage of the procedure and another 163 in the first four months of 2003, according to official figures. Anyone care to bet what sort of lather (and rightfully so) women's rights advocates will work up over this little chestnut? Marrying off rapists to their victims? That's going to make for mutually satisfying matrimonial conditions, all right. Calling Turkey a "moderate Muslim nation" is like labeling a crocodile a "pool maintenance technician." |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-07-01 4:28:02 PM |
| #9 or bravely throw acid in her face, like any Muslim father would do to save the honor of the family. |
| Posted by: anymouse 2004-07-01 2:48:19 PM |
| #8 .com--Bullseye. |
| Posted by: jules 187 2004-07-01 2:30:43 PM |
| #7 Good thing Turkey is a bastion of Moderate Muslims, else the guy would've had to kill her. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-07-01 2:21:15 PM |
| #6 Hello, does anyone over there actually care what the victim thinks????? *Begin Medieval Mind Mode* Victim? What victim? You mean the man facing decades in prison for just doing what the little trollop was asking for? *End Medieval Mind Mode* |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-07-01 1:43:52 PM |
| #5 Turkish law currently allows sharp reductions in prison sentences for rapists who agree to marry their victims. Hello, does anyone over there actually care what the victim thinks????? |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-07-01 12:32:04 PM |
| #4 "I’ve got to think of myself..." "In fact, that's all I think about." |
| Posted by: Dar 2004-07-01 12:11:32 PM |
| #3 Wow. How widespread is this kind of mindset in Turkey? It certainly shatters my preconceived notions about Turkey if this kind of "commoditization" of daughters' sexual assets is widepsread... |
| Posted by: jules 187 2004-07-01 11:11:21 AM |
| #2 Comments, Murat? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-07-01 10:31:06 AM |
| #1 I'm really tired of hearing people apologize for backward Muslims. All of Arab Islam at least is destructive, backward and dangerous. While nominally an isolationist I'm beginning to think that the only hope for world is for the US to lead a coalition of like minded nations in dragging the middle east into the modern world. |
| Posted by: Formerly Dan 2004-07-01 10:00:57 AM |