Türkiye’s top court ruled that a provision requiring a married woman’s civil registry record to be transferred to her husband’s family registry does not violate the constitution, rejecting a challenge to the decades-old practice.
The decision was adopted by a majority of the Constitutional Court’s members. The case was brought by an Istanbul court when it argued that the provision “could violate constitutional guarantees of equality by treating women and men differently after marriage.”
It argued that making the husband’s registry the basis for the family record had no legitimate justification and could amount to gender-based discrimination against women.
The Constitutional Court majority said the family registry is an administrative and technical record and that transferring a woman’s record to her husband’s registry does not have a direct and decisive effect on her legal status or concrete interests.
Five members dissented, with four of them saying the provision positions women not as independent legal individuals but as records subordinate to their male spouses.
