Controversial Turkish marriage laws approved

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, president of Turkey, has approved controversial legislation to let state-approved clerics conduct marriage ceremonies, a move critics claim risks undermining Turkey’s secular foundations.

The government-championed measure was passed by parliament last month in the face of bitter opposition and signed off as law on Thursday. It allows “muftis” – clerics employed by Turkey’s state religious affairs agency Diyanet – to perform and register marriages, as well as state-appointed civil servants.