As many families have been queuing to adopt children who have been left orphaned due to 6 February earthquakes, Turkey’s religious authority caused a public outrage after announcing that Islam allows parents to marry adopted children.
Some 39,672 people died in the twin earthquakes that hit Turkey’s 11 provinces, according to the latest update by officials. Many families have applied to the Ministry of Family and Social Services to adopt or temporarily house children who have lost their families in the disaster.
The country’s Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) shared a statement on Friday advising that there are different rules for adopted children in Islam.
“Though our religion advises the care and the protection of orphaned children, it has not accepted the practice of adoption, which can create some legal consequences. In that context, there is no rule prohibiting a marriage between an adoptive parent and an adopted child, while it is not proper to record adopted children under the parentage of adoptive parents instead of children’s birth mothers and fathers,” the directorate’s Higher Council of Religion Affairs said when answering a question on whether Islam allowed adoption.
After Birgün newspaper reported the statement, the directorate deleted the post on its webpage due to the tremendous public outrage.
“We have already understood that you are real perverts but what is your business in an institution like Diyanet. Go and work in the porn sector,” wrote journalist Fatih Altaylı in reaction to the institution’s statement. The journalist’s reaction was like many on social media.
“The Diyanet announced that “there is no obstacle for marrying” our earthquake-affected children. Whatever I write does not do favour to the gravity of the situation. I constantly write and delete. My blood is frozen, my brain has gone numb, my heart is burning… We cannot ignore this sentence. If we cannot protect the children of this country, we will not be able to sleep even when we die,” said Demet Evgar, a famous actor.
Meanwhile, Women’s Platform for Equality, an umbrella organisation bringing together dozens of women’s groups, released a statement saying that this was not the first time Diyanet had expressed an opinion that opened the way for sexual harassment of children. The directorate previously stated that the minimum age for marriage for girls is eight according to Islam.
The platform said that the statement of the institution violated the Turkish civil code and called on authorities to launch an investigation into those who penned this statement.
The directorate issued a press statement on Saturday accusing those criticising the institution of taking its advice out of context.
