Sisters seek state help to stop family

According to reports, the sisters from the Alacakaya told police their father wanted to use the ancient tradition of "berdel" to get married. Berdel involves one family agreeing for their children to marry the children of another family. The practice usually involves a family agreeing for their daughter to marry the son of another family in exchange for the younger siblings of the bride and groom to also marry.

The father and uncle of the girls decided to marry two women in the neighboring Bingöl province, promising to marry the girls to men from the families of their future wives.

The police took the sisters to the local prosecutor’s office, where they were questioned. They said their mother had passed away and their father ignored them. They said they lived with their mother’s sister.

Taken under protection

The sisters were taken into state protection and were sent to the local social services bureau.

The father and the uncle were charged with "limiting one’s freedom" and released pending their trial.

It has been learned that the father has previously been married three times and the sisters were born from his first marriage. From his other two marriages, there are five other children, three of whom are said to be at a shelter run by the Social Services and Children’s Protection Agency, or SHÇEK.

The father’s brother is also said to have two children from a previous marriage, both of whom are under SHÇEK protection.

Photo: Archive