Groom beaten up over child bride

ISTANBUL: A wedding photographer in the Turkish province of Malatya has admitted that he beat up a man after learning that he was going to get married to a 15-year-old girl, the Hurriyet Daily News reported.

Onur Albayrak was declared a hero on social media following the report that he tried to stop a wedding after learning that the bride was a child.

“Yes, the report is correct. A child bride means child abuse, and no force in the world can make me photograph a child as a bride,” Albayrak said on his Facebook page on July 7, adding t hat he did not regret his actions.

The report said Albayrak was hired to photograph the wedding on July 5.

When he noticed the bride-tobe did not look like an adult, Albayrak asked the groom about her age.

The photographer reacted a ngri l y when t he g r oom answered the bride was only 15 years old.

The two men soon started fighting, and the groom’s nose was broken in the fight.

The issue of child marriage is pressing in Turkey, with rights groups warning against the drastic numbers of child marriage.

According to Turkish law, the minimum age to marry for both men and women is 18.

Only in exceptional situations, a court order is required to marry 17 year olds. It is not legal to marry younger in any condition in Turkey.