Selling Daughters to Pay Electric Bill

Türkçe links to related Turkish article

(Sabah Newspaper, 10 March 2014)


Keeping the lights on by selling his girls.

When news came that a family in Şanlıurfa planned
to get a bride price for their 14 year-old daughter so
they could pay their electric bill, officials from the
Family and Social Policies Provincial Directorate
went into action.

The officials determined that G.A. had been taken
out of 4th grade by her family. They then met with
the family of Hamet and Zehra Ay and persuaded
them to re-enroll G.A. in her school, the nearby
Fevzi Çakmak Elementary School. Upon hearing
that she had been spared marriage, stated that
"I'm very glad I can go back to school. The state
saved the day."

However, six years ago Hamet Ay did marry off another
daughter, Nebiye who was then 13 years-old, and used
the bride price to pay off his electric bill. Hamet Ay
cannot work because of heart and kidney problems.


  Şanlıurfa Province