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- 1996/01/24-1996/01/26
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3pp
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Articles by Steve Boggan and Hugh Pope published in The Independent ('Mother of bride, 13, faces Turkish police' and 'Turkey embraces English girl-bride') regarding the underage religious marriage of 13-year-old girl Sarah Cook of Braintree, Essex, to 18-year-old Turkish man Musa Komeagac in the city of Kahramanmaraş. The marriage, which took place with the consent of the parents, became a major media sensation in Turkey. Underlined in the first article is a passage about Cook being forced to undergo a virginity test at a local hospital while Turkish media waited for the result, following by Komeagac's arrest and charge with statutory rape and kidnapping. Cook was 12 when she became involved with Komeagac while on holiday; the couple would go on to have a son; the marriage would end in 1997 following accusations of infidelity on the part of the groom. By this time, Cook had been made a ward of court, returning to Britain after the marriage was declared void by courts in both the UK and Turkey.
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English