Cult leader in Turkey prosecuted for marrying off six-year-old daughter

Prosecutors in Istanbul filed a lawsuit against a cult leader whose daughter claimed she was handed by his father to their 29-year-old neighbor as a bride when she was six and sexually abused during her childhood.

According to an article in Birgun newspaper, H.K.G, who is now 24, said she was married off by her father with Kadir Istekli, a member of the same cult as his father with a religious marriage. He lived next door to H.K.G.’s family.

H.K.G said at the time she only thought this was a game and said she was cautioned by his “husband” not to tell anyone.

After years of abuse, at the age of 14, a doctor noticed she was violated during a medical examination and prevented the police in 2012 which resulted with an investigation. But when the court requested that her bone age to be determined, the cult members stepped in and tricked a hospital by testing another woman who was 21 years old, thus getting a report saying she could be married legally, Birgun claimed.

At the age of 18, H.K.G. married officially to Istekli. A female doctor she met later told her that what she experienced as a child was rape and abuse. And a woman she met on social media suggested she could sue Istekli.

H.K.G. left the house as a complaint against his family and divorced Kadir Iskli, but no argument was filed for his complaint for two years.

An indictment completed in October two years after H.K.G. left home and divorced, requested that the three defendants, Istekli, as well as father and mother of H.K.G be sentenced to at least 27 years in prison each. In addition, the prosecutor demanded a penalty for Kadir Istekli on the charge of sexual assault.