Turks living abroad suffer failed marriages

Public Registration Office Manager of the central Anatolian province of Konya’s Kulu district Yusuf Yurttas told the Anatolia news agency that many residents of Kulu went abroad for work, adding that more than 30,000 people from Kulu were living in Sweden.

Yurttas said that the majority of these people living in Sweden were married to people from Kulu or surrounding districts, adding that the number of these marriages increased in recent years as young people sought to go abroad for work because of the economic crisis in Turkey.

Stressing that it takes two years to get a Swedish visa after marrying a Swedish citizen of Turkish descent, Yurttas noted that this has brought problems to such marriages, which started officially but not in practice.

Yurttas noted that social and cultural differences appear in a short time in these marriages, adding that couples prefer to divorce as they cannot meet each others’ expectations.

"Some 1,730 out of a total 5,102 marriages made in past three years ended with divorce," Yurttas added.