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Thursday, January 7, 1999 Published at 02:44 GMT
World: Europe
Forced virginity tests banned
In rural areas virginity is a matter of family honour
By Ankara Correspondent Chris Morris
The Turkish Justice Minister has ordered officials to stop the controversial practice of
forcing virginity tests on women and teenage girls.
The minister, Hasan Denizkurdu, said officials should not punish women in a way which, it
says, could offend their feelings of shame or modesty.
The authorities will now only be able to force virginity tests on women with prior
permission from a judge, if a test is required as evidence in a criminal case.
Testing has been quite common in the past, especially in conservative rural areas
where virginity is seen as a matter of family honour rather than one of personal
responsibility.
One focus of attention was state-run orphanages where a number of teenage girls committed
suicide after being forcibly examined to see if their hymen was still intact.
The practice has created a growing chorus of complaints from groups campaigning for better
women's rights. They will welcome the decree as an important step.
But they warn that implementation may be difficult and that a change in the law will not
necessarily lead to a change in deeply-entrenched attitudes.
Even the Minister of Women's Affairs defended virginity testing last year as a part of
cultural tradition, but she was forced to back-track after her remarks led to indignant
calls for her resignation.
Thursday, 26 July, 2001, 08:48 GMT 09:48 UK
Uproar as Turkey plans virginity tests
Girls as young as 14 could be subjected to tests
The human rights pressure group, Human Rights Watch, has called on Turkey to withdraw an
order authorising virginity tests on nursing students suspected of having sex.
Imposition of this test on girls - and the subsequent denial of education opportunities
based on test results - represent an intolerable form of gender discrimination
In a letter to Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, Human Rights Watch said that the
order introduced by Health Minister Osman Durmus was a "profound violation of women's
human rights".
The regulation says that girls studying at government-run nursing high schools should be
expelled for having sex, and that those under suspicion should be subjected to
gynaecological examinations.
It also says that, once expelled, girls should be forbidden from studying at any
government institution.
Rat poison
The order has sparked an uproar in Turkey, with angry protests being made by women's and
human rights groups.
When it is enshrined in law that the state can force girls to take virginity tests it has
an effect on millions and millions of girls
Forced virginity tests on girls suspected of having had premarital sex were common until
the practice was banned in 1999, when five girls attempted suicide by taking rat poison
rather than submit to the tests.
Pre-marital sex under the age of 18 is illegal in Turkey.
"Imposition of this test on girls - and the subsequent denial of education
opportunities based on test results - represent an intolerable form of gender
discrimination," Human Rights Watch said in its letter.
A representative of the group's Women's Rights division, Martina Vandenberg, told the BBC
that the Health Minister's order was an attempt to circumvent the 1999 ban.
She said the students - aged 14 to 18 - were children under international law, and had a
right to education.
Grounds for suspicion
She added: "When it is enshrined in law that the state can force girls to take
virginity tests, it has an effect on millions and millions of girls in Turkey, in the
sense that there is constantly the threat of a virginity exam hanging over their
head."
Even innocent activities, such as having a picnic with boys, could be perceived in Turkey
as grounds for suspicion, she said.
The Health Ministry's order technically avoids the ban on forced virginity tests,
because students enrolling at nursing schools would be voluntarily submitting themselves
to the rules of the establishment.