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A wedding photographer, Onur Albayrak is receiving praise from around the globe for admitting to beating up a groom about to marry a 15-year-old girl at eastern Turkish province of Malatya .
According to local media reports, Albayrak was hired to photograph the wedding at Malatya’s Turgut Özal Nature Park on July 5. When he noticed that the bride-to-be did not look like an adult, Albayrak reportedly asked the groom about her age.
The photographer reacted angrily when the groom answered that the bride was only 15 years old, he refused to continue and stop the wedding.
The groom argued that Albayrak was bound by contract to work for the wedding, and the argument quickly became physical. According to local reports, the groom attacked Albayrak as he attempted to leave, and in defense, Albayrak broke the groom’s nose.
“The groom had come to my studio some two weeks ago and was alone,” I saw the bride for the first time at the wedding. She’s a child, and I felt her fear, because she was trembling. The groom attacked me as I was leaving,” Albayrak told the Daily news .
Albayrak confirmed the reports in a post on Facebook, which has since attracted thousands of likes and shares.
“I wish this had never happened, but it did,” Albayrak wrote. “And if you were to ask me if I’d do the same thing again, I’d say ‘yes.’ Child brides are [victims] of child abuse, and no power on earth can make me photograph a child in a wedding gown.”
According to Turkish law, the minimum age to marry for both men and women is 18. Only in exceptional situations, a judge order is required to marry off 17-year-olds. It is not legal to marry younger in any condition in Turkey.