Did the Turkish government just try to legalize child rape?

If you have been following Turkish news, the odd question in my headline might have occurred to you.  My short answer is: No, the government's intention with a new law it tried to pass last Thursday was not quite that horrific. But it still was a horrific motion, to which millions of citizens, even some government supporters, rightfully objected. Luckily, at least for now, it has been pulled back.

Here is the more detailed story. The controversy began when parliament was discussing a new set of laws on which there was no big controversy. Yet at the last moment, in the last parliamentary session right before midnight, a group of Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputies added a one-page addition to the package.

 This addition included a very bizarre suggestion: In cases of sexual abuse of children committed before Nov. 16, it said, if the perpetrator marries his victim "without force or threat" then "the sentence would be postponed or the execution of the offence would be adjourned."

Why did those AKP MPs have this bizarre idea, which was also strongly defended by the justice minister? Well, they referred to a "social reality" in Turkey's least developed areas such as the rural southeast. Here, despite the law that criminalizes marriage before the age of 17, there are many underage "marriages" where, for example, a 16-year-old boy is wedded to a 15-year-old girl — all with the consent of the families and the community. When the girl goes to hospital to give birth, her age is revealed and the "husband" is arrested and jailed. His "wife" is left to give birth and look after their daughter alone. "There are 3,000 such cases," Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ kept arguing, saying the bill was only about addressing their trauma.

However,...