Turkey’s Constitutional Court’s verdict has allowed couples to be religiously married without legally binding civil formalities. This has been protested by human rights and women’s rights activists who fear that rights of women and children would be usurped, including family legal rights and inheritance, etc.
According to a declaration made by the Federation of Turkish Women’s Associations, the court’s judgment could even encourage polygamy, child marriages and paid marriages if proper regulatory frameworks were not implemented.
The group has also decided to take the matter to the European Court of Human Rights, the rulings of which are binding on Turkey, given that the Turkish government is a party to the founding treaty of the European Court of Human Rights.
