ISTANBUL
Syrian women refugees in Turkish camps should shun early and multiple marriages, Family and Social Policies Minister Aysenur Islam said on Thursday.
“We are educating them in the Turkish tradition [about marriage through educators]. We teach them that “It is not legal to get married under the age of 18 in Turkey and there is a penalty for it,” Islam told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Thursday.
Syrian women are receiving education at the camps about staying out of early and multiple marriages, Islam said.
"We are working together with the United Nations Population Fund and the Prime Ministry's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency on this subject and we are trying to expand our programs in this area."
Islam's remarks came as an increasing number of women refugees from Syria who have fled the conflict in that country are choosing to marry Turkish men as a second or third wives. "This does not fit in with Turkey’s hospitality. The responsibility for them is ours, for Turkish families and Turkish men.”
Around 1 million brochures in different languages about women’s rights in Turkey are being handed out to raise their awareness, Islam said.
Separately, Islam pointed out that Turks may not adopt a Syrian child in the Turkish refugee camps, “It is not possible to adopt them. We need an international agreement for this," Islam explained.
“We are taking unattended Syrian children under our protection after confirming that they do not really have family. We have around 70 houses in Turkey where we host Syrian children. The number of these houses may increase in the near future,” she added.
Another 100-person capacity nursing home for children is being built in Gaziantep, southeast Turkey, the minister said. "We have the financial resources to build many more homes like that,” she added.
According to the Ankara-based Hacettepe University report, as of Oct. 2014, Turkey was hosting over 1.5 million Syrian people – with 1.4 million of whom living outside of official camps. Based on data from the country’s Interior Ministry, 72 of 81 Turkish provinces are currently home to Syrians who have fled their country.
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