Several recent reports of teenage pregnancies in Turkey have reignited public debate over child abuse and the government’s failure to protect minors, amid official data showing that more than 6,500 girls aged 15 to 17 gave birth in 2023, Turkish Minute reported on Tuesday.
Turkish media outlets reported two separate incidents in the Black Sea province of Zonguldak, where 16-year-old girls were found pregnant after visiting hospitals. In one case, the baby was stillborn and prosecutors launched an investigation, while in another, both the mother and the newborn were put under state protection.
The reports come as figures from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) show that 6,505 girls aged 15 to 17 gave birth in 2023, including 535 who became mothers for the second time and 31 for the third. The data also revealed that 130 girls under 15 gave birth, with four of them becoming mothers for the second time.
Women’s rights advocates have criticized what they describe as the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government’s failure to protect girls from early marriage and sexual abuse.
Zeynep Şatır of the SOL (Left) Feminist Movement said the rise in child births by teen mothers reflects the AKP government’s Islamist policies and its failure to enforce deterrent and protective measures. She stated that abuse and violence against girls have increased during the AKP’s 23-year rule, while lenient sentencing and impunity continue to encourage perpetrators.
Seyhan Öznur Karasu from the Women and Children First Association accused the government of trying to render abuse invisible, noting that every pregnancy under 18 must be investigated as sexual abuse. “The state must act on its own initiative in such cases without waiting for a complaint,” she added.
A 2023 report by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) said that 1,755,375 adolescents aged 10–19 gave birth in Turkey between 2003 and 2021, during the first 18 years of AKP rule. Of these, 27 percent involved girls younger than 17, while 15,601 births were by girls under 15, the report said.
The CHP study also revealed that between 2012 and 2021, 147 children under 15 gave birth more than once, including 16 who gave birth three times and two who gave birth four times. In the 15–17 age group, 14,806 minors gave birth multiple times, with some becoming mothers four times before adulthood.
The report accused the government of concealing the scale of child pregnancies and removing older data from public access, saying this has made long-term comparisons impossible.
Turkey has one of the highest rates of child marriage in Europe, with an estimated 15 percent of girls married before 18 and 2 percent before 15, according to data from Girls Not Brides, a global campaign against child marriage.
In Turkey, the legal age of consent is 18, meaning that sexual activity involving anyone younger can lead to prosecution for statutory rape.
Although the minimum legal age for marriage is also 18, individuals aged 17 may marry with parental or guardian consent. However, informal or religious marriages, which are not legally registered, remain widespread across parts of the country.
