Laws regarding incest

A court in the southern Turkish province of Antalya has ruled for heavier sentences for a couple in an incest rape and murder case that had stirred public outcry. 

A half-brother and sister have been legally recognized as the parents of their child after a legal battle in France.

As someone who has addressed gender equality issues for years, I could not remain silent about the ongoing debates on incest in Turkey.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Deputy Metin Külünk submitted a legislative proposal on Sept. 8 to the Turkish parliament, asking for those involved in consensual incest relationships to be given jail terms between eight and 12 years.

Külünk's proposal said the 104th article of the Turkish Criminal Law should add the following provision:

An incest debate is still going on in Turkey, amid all the other political and diplomatic issues facing President Tayyip Erdoğan.

It all started with a news report two weeks ago. A half-famous, minor jet-set TV personality called Murat Başoğlu was "caught" by paparazzi in a boat off the Aegean coast cavorting with a woman who is not his wife.

The bill in Turkey which will enable "the release of sexual abuse suspects by marrying them with the victim" caused an outcry; however, Professor Şebnem Korur Fincancı, the head of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV), is "grateful" for the bill. 

A 43 year-old woman and her 25-year old daughter were put in prison in Oklahoma, after it was discovered they had married each other! The US Department of Human Services (DHS) informed the local police department of in Duncan that the two were involved in an incestuous relationship last year.

A mother who reunited with the son she gave up for adoption 30 years ago says that now they’re in love and they are trying for a baby together.

Kim West, 51, has been in a relationship with her biological son Ben Ford, 32, for two years and believe they are ‘meant to be together’ after she had to give him up for adoption a week after he was born.

Incest could be made legal in Germany following a meeting of the German Ethics Council studying the case of Patrick Stuebing who was adopted and then later fell in love with his biological sister. The couple had four children before Stuebing was imprisoned in 2008 though he appealed to the European Court of Human Rights over his entitlement to a family life in 2012.