
Country Table – Turkey
In 2016, Musawah began compiling country tables containing an overview of legislative frameworks, available case law, policies, procedures and practices…
Turkey’s population is 84.680.203 by 31 December 2021. According to a research conducted in 2014 by the collaboration of the Directorate of Religious Affairs and the Turkish Statistical Institute, the percentage of the Muslim population in Turkey is 99.2%. However, according to a research conducted by Optimar (a research company) conducted in 2019, this percentage decreased to 89.5%. According to the same research, 74% of Muslims are Sunni Muslims and the percentage of Alevi Muslims in total population is 12.5%, while 4.5 % believed in God but did not belong to an organized religion, 2.7% were agnostic, 1.7% were atheist, and 1.7% did not answer. Besides, today the Christian population is estimated between 200,000-320,000 and the Jewish population is considered around 14,500.
In Turkey, the family law is rooted in the secular Civil Law and it uses only secular sources since 1926.
Article 10 of the ConstitutionArticle 10 of Turkey’s Constitution (1982), https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Turkey_2011.pdf?lang=en states that:
Although the law treats women and men equally except the fact that women bear their husbands’ surname, in fact, there is a disconnect between the law and stated policies and actual implementation. State policies and court decisions serve to increase the already existing gender inequality in the society.
Minimum age of marriage is 18 in Turkey. However, boys and girls who enter into the age of 17 can marry with the permission of their parents. Also, boys and girls who enter into the age of 16 can marry with the permission of the judge.
However, marriages before 18 are still prevalent and do not enter into state statistics since most of these marriages occur by way of religious marriages (not civil marriages)
Legally, women and men are equal in terms of divorce provisions. However, socially, women’s access to divorce is difficult due to the gender inequality in the society, which is indicated by women’s low employment rate, social obligation of childcare and lack of both familial and state-based support mechanisms.
There is no positive features towards women in the Civil Code. However, in practice, some laws provide benefits for women. For example, according to the Article 175 of Civil Code (the law on the welfare allowance, the gender of the party is not stated but since women are more disadvantaged in the society, they benefit from this law. Also, in the Law No 6284, which aims to prevent domestic violence, the gender is also not specified but this law provides protection for women.
Divorce laws are adjudicated in the family courts. If the case is contested divorce, adjudication usually takes so long. The decision of divorce and alimony is given together in the same trial.
The only application made outside the family court is about the surname of the woman. These decisions are given in the primary court of law.
Article 10 of the Turkish Constitution states in its first paragraph that everyone is equal before the law without distinction as to language, race, colour, sex, political opinion, philosophical belief, religion and sect, or on any other such grounds.
The changes in the Constitution, the Civil Code and other legislation in the 2000’s have produced considerable advances in the equality of women and men before the law and ensured the supremacy of universal human rights’ standards.
After the codification of Turkish Civil Code which was basically an adaptation of Swiss Civil Code, Sharia law was abolished and the republic declared to be a secular state with the amendment of the constitution. Turkey has a secular and unitary legal system. Thus, the constitution does not have any exception for Islamic law or any other family law. The only exception of equality is affirmative action which is also regulated in the constitution.
Links to CEDAW reports that refer to Muslim family laws and practices.
Links to Musawah’s CEDAW reports on Turkey
Turkey has ratifiedhttps://indicators.ohchr.org/:
Sustainable Development Goals
In Turkey, feminist campaigns are very effective in pushing for law reforms. The reformation of the Civil Code in 2002, which grants women equal rights with men, was a largely result of the feminist movement’s efforts. Following are the feminist campaigns that led to the legal changes in Turkey.
Links to key women’s groups working in the issue of women’s rights (These organizations are not exclusively working on Muslim family law.)
In 2016, Musawah began compiling country tables containing an overview of legislative frameworks, available case law, policies, procedures and practices…
This country page was prepared by Dr. Ceren Akçabay, Ayşenur Değer and Burcu Kalpaklıoğlu as a collaboration with Havle Women’s Association and under the Campaign for Justice in Muslim Family Laws.