In the mainly Kurdish city of Van, girls aged between 3 and 8 years are made to wear engagement and wedding dresses and used in the advertisement of marriage firms in a fair currently taking place.

The ‘Marriage Fair’ where child marriage is promoted, continues with the organization of Governor and trustees appointed by the state to DBP-held municipalities.

Little girls are made into a tool for the promotion of some companies of marriage, and they are made to show up at stands in wedding dresses.

Describing the scene as unacceptable, HDP Van MP Bedia Özgökçe Ertan said that; “The government promotes child marriages through trustees. Children being used in such an event is harassment. Use of children figures as bride and groom goes beyond exploitation. This is a crime.”