Somali Refugees’ Marriage Not Recognised

The Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly (hCa) publishes the “Refugee Voices” as part of its refugee support programme. The latest issue features the case of Mahad Mahmoud and Zehara, two people who were not allowed to marry officially in Turkey.

Mahad came to Istanbul from Somalia in 2004. Currently he works as an interpreter and register official for the hCa’s Refugee Legal Aid Programme.

Married but not married 

Mahad and Zehara met when she came to the association in order to apply to the United Nations. They fell in love and married last year.They hired a wedding hall and invited their Somali and Turkish friends and neighbours to a festive wedding.

However, because they do not have passports and could not prove their unmarried status, Turkey does not consider them officially married.
Meanwhile, Mahad’s refugee application to the USA has been accepted, and Zehara is allowed to go with him. For the United States, cohabitation is sufficient proof of a couple’s status.

Turkey has not accepted their marriage, but because there is no Somali embassy in Turkey, they cannot obtain the necessary documents. Thus, Mahad has been sent to a satellite town in the southern province of Burdur, while Zehara remains in Istanbul, two months pregnant.

In Somalia, it is apparently not necessary to apply to a court or a municipality. Rather, a sheikh conducts a kind of marriage by writing down the names of the spouses and witnesses and taking their signatures. Mahad and Zehara had found a refugee sheikh from Sudan in Istanbul and had asked him to marry them.

In his account in the newsletter, Mahad said: “If they ask if we are legally married all we can say is that we are legally married according to our culture.”
He also wrote, “In Somalia, there is nothing working. People are desperate for security, not to get a letter that says you are single.”

Required documents 

The “Refugee Voices” lists the following procedures for marriage in Turkey:

• If the couple do not have valid passports, they need residence permits in Turkey. A letter by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) or an ID document from the police are not accepted.
• The couple need a letter from the police station where they are registered. The letter has to say whether the refugees are unmarried or officially married. On first registration with the police this information is recorded.
• The couple has to take those two documents to the municipality where it is registered and must epress their wish to get married. However, because the law on marriage changed in 2007, some municipal civil servants, as well as some police, may not know enough about the required documents.
• If a refugee is in need of legal representation, the hCa Refugee Support Programme or the bar association of the city will supply support free of charge. (NZ/TK/AG)