On the official website and social media accounts of Afyonkarahisar Municipality, it was reported that the wedding fee, which was 400 TL for Turkish citizens, was increased 25 times to 10 thousand TL for asylum seekers.

The right to marry and to found a family is regulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The first paragraph of Article 16 of the UDHR reads as follows: “Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family.” In the same vein, Article 23 of the ICCPR and Article 12 of the ECHR state that every individual of marriageable age has the right to marry and to found a family. Including procedures that make the right to marry excessively difficult or applying them in a discriminatory manner would be contrary to the ECHR (ECHR, K. M. v. United Kingdom, B. No: 55762/00, 55974/00, 13/12/2005, para. 55-58). As a matter of fact, in the ECHR's 2010 O'Donoghue and Others v. the United Kingdom judgment, the Court emphasized that the obligation to pay high filing fees for marriage constitutes a serious obstacle to marriage for those in need and that this violates the essence of the right to marriage. The right to marry and establish a family is also directly related to the right to develop one's material and spiritual existence as enshrined in Articles 5 and 17 of the Constitution. The most important purpose of the protection of human rights, which are based on human dignity, is to protect the material and spiritual existence of human beings, which is the most basic need of human beings. In this framework, the violation of the right to marry and establish a family, which is one of the fundamental rights that the individual needs biologically and socially, also hinders the protection and development of the individual's material and spiritual existence.

The prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of race, color and ethnic origin is guaranteed in national and international instruments. Racial discrimination is prohibited at the UN level by the UDHR, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the ICCPR and the Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and at the Council of Europe level by the ECHR and the Revised European Social Charter.In national documents, racial discrimination is prohibited by the 1982 Constitution and Law No. 6701.

Racial discrimination is a type of discrimination that should be given special importance and should be reacted to in the strongest manner, as it can lead to dangerous consequences for social peace. The understanding of society in democratic countries considers diversity not as a danger but as a richness; a democratic society is based on the principles of pluralism and respect for different cultures. Article 1 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination defines racial discrimination. Article 5 of the Convention states that individuals have the right to enjoy all public places and services without racial discrimination. In its General Policy Recommendation No. 1 on Combating Racism, Xenophobia, Anti-Semitism and Intolerance, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) recommended that States Parties “to ensure that public services and services of a public nature, such as health, education and social services, are open to all, with no discrimination between members of society.”

Article 3 of Law No. 6701 states that everyone is equal in the enjoyment of legally recognized rights and freedoms and prohibits discriminatory treatment of persons on the basis of race, color and ethnic origin. Article 5 of the aforementioned Law, which regulates the scope of the prohibition of discrimination, stipulates that public institutions and organizations providing social services cannot discriminate against persons who are benefiting from these services or who have applied to benefit from these services.

Article 18 of the Municipal Law No. 5393 titled “Duties and powers of the Council” regulates the duties and powers of the municipal council. In this context, the municipal council has been given the duty and authority to determine the fee tariff to be applied for services that are not subject to taxes, duties, fees and participation fees in the laws and that are subject to the request of the relevant persons" in subparagraph "f" of the relevant article. Article 97 of the Law No. 2464 on Municipal Revenues titled “Works subject to fees”, “Municipalities are authorized to charge fees according to the tariffs to be prepared by the municipal councils for all kinds of services that are not subject to fees or participation shares in this Law and that they will perform at the request of those concerned. The works granted to the Municipality as a monopoly are subject to their own special provisions.” Therefore, both the Municipal Law and the Municipal Revenues Law give municipalities the authority and duty to regulate marriage and water tariffs. However, in the provision of these services, the relevant municipalities should take into account both the principle of equality before the law protected under Article 10 of the Constitution and the principle of equality and non-discrimination provisions set out in Law No. 6701.

An ex officio investigation was initiated pursuant to the Decision of the Human Rights and Equality Board of Türkiye dated 23.11.2021 and numbered 2021/283 on the decision of the Bolu Municipality Council to apply different tariffs in water and marriage fees for foreigners living in Bolu regarding a similar incident that was previously reported in the press. 2021 dated 23.11.2021 and numbered 2021/283 of the Human Rights and Equality Board of Türkiye, and it was decided that the prohibition of discrimination on the basis of race and ethnic origin regulated in Article 3 of Law No. 6701 was violated and Bolu Municipality was imposed an administrative fine of 40,000 TL on the grounds that there was a different treatment that could not be justified, disproportionate and not based on a reasonable justification within the scope of the right to establish a family and the right to marry and the right to access sufficient and clean water for foreigners living in the province.

Considering all these issues together, it is important to act in accordance with the principle of equality and the prohibition of discrimination in the provision of services carried out by municipalities. In this context, in democratic societies founded on universal principles such as pluralism, equality and respect for different cultures, it is unacceptable for anyone to be treated differently because of their race, color, ancestry, ethnic origin and/or language.

Under Law No. 6701, our Authority is authorized to conduct ex officio examinations and impose administrative sanctions on natural and legal persons who violate the prohibition of discrimination. The incident in question is closely monitored by our Institution, whose main mission is to protect and promote human rights, prevent discrimination and ensure equal treatment of persons.

Respectfully announced to the public.