Turkey postpones vote of controversial abuse draft

November 20, 2016

Ankara, Nov 20: Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has ordered his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to talk with the opposition regarding the controversial sexual abuse draft, which is postponed in Parliament to November 22.

Turkey
The Prime Minister's remarks came after Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag spoke to the press to justify the draft, Xinhua news agency quoted Hurriyet News as saying on Saturday.

Bozdag said on Friday that such early marriages are "common," and around 3,000 men are currently in prison due to the current law.

"The courts only consider the age and give sentences of 16 years regardless of circumstances. They do not consider whether the underage marriage has happened with or without the consent of the traditions of the families," he said.

The 49-article draft amending the code of criminal procedure was issued in parliament at night session on Thursday.

The bill did not receive a majority vote, meaning the articles have not been validated yet. The assembly will gather to vote on the entire bill again on November 22.

Men guilty of sexually abuse of children may avoid being prosecuted if they get married to the victim, according to a controversial motion proposed by members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) that has been harshly criticised by opposition parties.

In cases of sexual abuse of children committed before November 16 "without force or threat," if the perpetrator marries his victim the sentence will be postponed or the execution of the offence will be adjourned, according to the draft.

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January 31,2026

trumpkill.jpg

The US Department of Justice has released millions of new documents linked to the case of convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, before removing some pages that contained complaints mentioning President Donald Trump.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Friday that approximately 3.5 million files were published to comply with the Epstein Transparency Act, following criticism that the administration had missed a December 19 deadline set by Congress.

The documents include FBI communications and complaints submitted as tips, some of which list comments mentioning Trump and others who had social or professional ties to Epstein.

Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in relation to his past association with Epstein.

Pages removed from DOJ website

After their publication, pages containing complaints that mentioned Trump were removed from the DOJ website and now return a “page not found” message. Copies of the documents, however, have circulated widely on social media. CNN anchor Jake Tapper was among those who publicly noted that the pages had been taken down.

One complaint, filed by a friend of a victim, says Trump forced a girl aged 13–14 to perform “oral sex” approximately 35 years ago in New Jersey. The document states that an investigator was sent to Washington to conduct an interview.

Another complaint says Trump regularly paid an individual to perform sexual acts and adds that he was present when her newborn child was murdered by a relative. The paperwork notes that there was “no contact made” with the complainant.

A separate complaint, which provided no contact information, said “calendar girls” parties at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago involved children and sexual abuse. The document also names several public figures as present at such events.

In another account, a complainant said they witnessed a “sex trafficking ring” at Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, in the mid-1990s. The person noted “threats” from Trump’s head of security if she spoke publicly about what she had seen.

Other figures mentioned in the files

The latest release also includes a draft email Epstein wrote to himself in 2013, referring to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. In the message, Epstein said Gates asked him to delete emails and referenced “personal matters.”

The DOJ has not provided a detailed explanation for why certain pages were removed after publication. The department said the document release was ongoing.

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