WUNRN
International Business Times
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/turkey-pm-pledges-dowry-gold-young-women-have-children-1487426
Turkey -
Financial Incentive for Couples to Marry Young & Have at Least 3 Children
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By Elsa Buchanan – 10
February 2015
Turkey is to offer up to 10,000
Turkish lira ($4,000) to couples that marry early in a bid to get young people
to marry before graduating from university and produce at least three
offspring.
The Justice and Development Party
(AKP) government and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu have outlined a series of
financial incentives, including cash rewards and debt paybacks, as part of the
AKP's vision of women in the "New Turkey".
The AKP, which has been in power
for more than ten years, with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in charge for
most of them has its roots in Islam, and wants to make Turkey more
Islamic.
The government is hoping the
promise of financial incentives will encourage couples to marry young and women
to produce at least three children at a young age.
One of the most eye-catching
incentive by the government is the offer of a dowry account and the pledge of
gold coins.
For instance, when a couple has a
baby, they will be able to open a bank account for their offspring. The
government said it will add 15% to the account's balance when the child reaches
the age of marriage.
Childbearing mothers will be
rewarded with gold coins. The prime minister explained each mother will receive
300 lira [$120] after giving birth as a gift from the state.
"That equals half a gold
coin. This gift will be [increased to] 400 lira [$160] for the second child and
600 lira [$240] for the third. It will be the state that will pin the first
gold coin on the mother and the baby," Davutoglu added.
The prime minister also declared
that working women will be allowed to work for 4 hours a day on a full salary
for at least a year after birth, and will be guaranteed employment.
The unusual measure means that
women who produce three children successively will be receiving a full salary
for half a day's work for 3 to 4 years.
Incentives for married students
Other measures target university
students. If they marry, they will no longer have to pay back their student
loans - which will be considered grants.
In another move to push young
couples to marry early, married couples attending university will not be charged
for hostel accommodation.
The prime minister offered an
additional incentive in the form of home savings accounts offered to young
married couples. Davutoglu announced the government will be adding 15% to the
amount saved in five years, if the account remains untouched.
However, if the money in the
account is taken out within four years, the subsidy will be 10% and it is
reduced to 5% if used in three years.
Until now about 3,000 university
students have married and have applied for these incentives, according to Habertürk,
a local newspaper.
Growing local outrage
The measures have sparked outrage
in the country, with women organizations, labour unions and employer
associations denouncing the package.
Women organizations claim the
goal behind the campaign is to keep women at home, remove them from economic
and social life and allow them just to bear children, charged Zülfikar Doğan, a
commentator on Al Monitor.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
has unfailingly exhorted women to have at least three children, while also
calling abortion "murder".
In December last year he slammed birth control, saying: "One or two (children) is
not enough. To make our nation stronger, we need a more dynamic and younger
population. We need this to take Turkey above the level of modern
civilisations."
During a visit to the Service for
Youth and Education Foundation of Turkey in July, Erdoğan told the girls:
"Don't delay your marriage. Decide quickly and marry while you are
studying or immediately after graduation — the minute you find your destiny
[kismet]. Don't be too selective. If you are, you won't achieve it."
Commentators have also accused
the government of producing a polished election package, ahead of the upcoming
presidential election in August.