First of all, I am posting this as this story has no media attention in the UK - although all kind of other "unimportant" stories are covered on all newspapers in great detail. For example, there is no single newspaper or tv station in Germany that has not covered this topic at least once in the last months - other newspapers even have an update almost every day.

This also proves, that the internet is a better medium then newspapers. While newspapers, radio and tv in the UK will not mention this story, you will find plenty of information on the internet - even if most sources are in German or other languages....You will also notice now how usually stories on newspapers and tv are "copied" - if the Sun, BBC, ITV, Channel 4 etc.. do not mention it, lots of other newspapers will not mention it either. If one of the big players will focus on the story, all others will follow suit.....the importance of a story is usually "defined" by only a couple of people who have almost the complete media control....they decide whether something is "worth" to be reported about or not.

A 17 year old boy from Germany, Marco W., is accused of having had sex with a 13 year old girl from the United Kingdom on holiday in Turkey..and now has been sentenced to go to jail in Turkey for 15 years.

However, the girl is still a virgin and none of the witnesses was even convinced there was a case of rape or even sex. Several independent doctors certify the girl is still a virgin.

The main problem is: The 13 year old girl is back in the United Kingdom in the meantime and does not bother about the trial - or rather: her parents don't like this guy as her 13 year old daughter has fallen in love with him on their holidays in Turkey. Marco W. himself said he was shocked when he found out Charlotte was only 13 - as Charlotte is quite tall and looks older he would have estimated her to be 15 or 16 years old.

About months ago the guy has been arrested in a hotel in Turkey. According to him and other witnesses, the girl pretended to be 16 and had a holiday flirt with him - but then they had an argument and her parents did not like him....so they reported him to the Police in Turkey.

Initially the girl pretended he has raped her - but later admitted it was a lie - she only lied because she has really strict parents and was afraid of her parents if she had admitted that they have had an "affair".

In Turkey, there is generally the penalty of about 15 years if a 17 year old has sex with a 13, 14 or 15 year old....independent of how mature they are or whether it was in mutual consent or not. In other countries in the EU, a psychologist would determin the matureness of both and assess whether it was a matter of "exploiting someone less mature" or not....if this is not a the case nothing happens. Just as a background information. But in this case, they did not even have sex!

15 years, he'll be 32 when hes out. And something tells me doing 15 in Turkey wont be as easy as 15 years in Germany or England.

His life has been destroyed

Neither in Germany nor the UK he would have been sent to prision. It is proved they did not even have sex. I don't know about the UK, but in Germany nothing even happened if they have had sex in mutual consent as both are underage and usually this is decided on a case by case basis....and penalties are usually reasonable and not unfair or unfounded.

Turkey will NEVER join the EU! It is a middle-aged country with weird laws and the justice system is not working at all.

I really hope this 13 (or now 14?) year old girl from Oldham (Manchester) realizes that she has ruined a life when she gets older but then it is too late.

What I also find really harsh is that he looked quite decent and boyish before the imprisionment. They have shaved his hair off and he has not had any proper good for several months. He looks really devastated now and in front of a court he probably now looks more "evil" then 6 months ago....on top of that all.

Before:



After 6 months in prison in Turkey:



The girl from Oldham is not primarily responsible for that but her parents who are just behaving completely irresponsible.

The thing is nowadays (fuck me I sound old) these 13 year olds can quite easily pass for 18 years old and they sure know how to act it too.
Can't excuse people who like the younger kids at all, but I can see how mistakes like this can happen.
(Although I don't think there is a 13 year old virgin in Cornwall)

Sorry, was a wrong picture...

The problem is, there are no picture of her anywhere...

There was one on a cover of a newspaper the other day:



that's all.

The way that I see it is that if you send me on holiday,pour some beer down my throat, and get me talking to a girl who says she is 18, then I probably wouldn't argue, who would?
When I was 13, sex wasn't on my mind like it is with kids nowadays, my daughter is 10 now, and it makes me cringe to even think of her having sex till she is at least 18!
Seems like a fair trial is what is needed here, for her benefit as well as his, perhaps like you say, the media should get involved to help put things right, cos as you did point out, the Sun (and it's kin) have a nasty habit of pointing out all that they see as wrong in the world.......

Just to clear things up:

They did not have sex! Nothing happend - nothing at all ! Point.

The 13 year old girl Charlotte has made a lie and her parents want to get him sentenced - maybe because it is her daughter and they have problems with the idea of her growing up and that she will have sex sooner or later. But as I mentioned they have not had sex...it is just a personal matter of Charlottes parents that do not like him. On the newspapers they always say her parents are really religious. What religion if I may ask? Mormons ?

Here are some youtube videos about the topic:

Marcos father - a bit broken English, but you can understand what he is trying to say:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4HhmYhE5Jk

http://www.myvideo.de/watch/2162342

http://www.stern.de/politik/panorama/:Der-Fall-Marco-W.-Jeden-Tag-Fax-Marco/591800.html

http://www.focus.de/panorama/welt/focus-interview_aid_69494.html

http://www.focus.de/panorama/welt/tuerkei_aid_134794.html

http://www.sueddeutsche.de/panorama/artikel/511/135251/?page=4

http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/0,1518,512898,00.html

http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/0,1518,490600,00.html

http://www.faz.net/s/Rub77CAECAE94D7431F9EACD163751D4CFD/Doc~E8498B840FC1C41369947126B0AF011BA~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html

http://www.abendblatt.de/daten/2007/06/27/762375.html

http://www.bild.t-online.de/BTO/news/2007/10/09/marco-juristen/deutschland-freiheit,geo=2631964.html

http://www.bild.t-online.de/BTO/news/2007/10/08/marco-tuerkei/ablehnung-haftbeschwerde,geo=2628112.html

http://www.bild.t-online.de/BTO/news/2007/10/08/marco-tuerkei/haftpruefungstermin,geo=2624660.html

http://www.bild.t-online.de/BTO/news/2007/10/07/marco-tuerkei/einmischung-eu,geo=2621302.html

http://www.bild.t-online.de/BTO/news/2007/10/05/marco-tuerkei/wende-opfer-anwalt,geo=2611138.html

http://www.bild.t-online.de/BTO/news/2007/09/28/marco-prozess-aktuell/fortsetzung-anklage,geo=2576646.html

http://www.bild.t-online.de/BTO/news/2007/08/11/marco-selbstmord-gefahr/interview-mutter,geo=2298930.html

http://www.bild.t-online.de/BTO/news/2007/08/10/marco-tuerkei/brief,geo=2294644.html

http://www.bild.t-online.de/BTO/news/2007/08/06/marco-tuerkei/verhandandlung-psyche,geo=2262968.html

http://www.bild.t-online.de/BTO/news/2007/06/29/tuerken-knast-staatsanwalt/marco-jahre-hinter-gitter,geo=2066408.html

http://www.bild.t-online.de/BTO/news/2007/06/28/tuerken-knast-junge/opfer-maedchen,geo=2059760.html

http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/0,1518,491088,00.html

http://www.bild.t-online.de/BTO/news/2007/06/23/tuerkei-deutscher/bundesregierung-freilassung,geo=2040642.html




(the video also shows the girl....but blurred)

anyway...in my opinion this is a blatant scandal.

But nobody seems to care about it here either

I don't really know the story, nor am I familiar with the turkish laws, but I think a petition or some other sort of people gathering should be made/take place. Either to raise some cash (I don't know how much cash the boy's father's got) and get him a great turkish lawyer or forcing the UK or Germany to take action and insist (in any way) Turkey lets the boy be trialed abroad. Though after all this happened on turkish ground so I suppose turkish law applies, but it seems stupid for them not to take action in this case and at least get all info. I don't know.
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As far as I know the family are running out of money now to pay for all the lawsuits and lawyer fees as well as all the flights to Turkey.

The German Bundeskanzler Mrs Merkel wants to support this case now....

I have read some articles on newspapers and it seems like that Charlotte is afraid of her parents and basically they put a high pressure on her and she is not allowed to talk about it.

All that would be necessary is that her parents allow her to speak up in front of the court what really happened....but they do not want her to go back to Turkey - even if it was only for a day.

The lawyer of Charlottes parents was told to "try to get the hardest penalty for him that is possible"... although he is innocent !

Turkey always pretends to be a civilized country and is eager to join the EU - on the other hand they don't have any human rights and even put children in prisons without bathrooms or any other standards you would expect of a prison.

Thing is... To convict someone of a crime, at least one other person has to say they've done it (not to speak of witnesses). And if the girl eventually confessed the boy if innocent, I don't see how this is all still going on. And even if she said he did it, she still had to confess it in Turkey, nope? So she was there at some point? And if she was there at some point she and her parents should be obliged by law to go again if further trial is needed? It's really not a question of "allowing her to speak". Am I wrong? I dunno. Get the feelin' I'm gettin into somethin that's over my head, but it only seems proper, regardless of the laws of a particular country. OR maybe I'm just an idealist and Turkey's got another regime...
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I know what you are saying actually being strict doesn't actually get you very far as sonn as your kids reach about my daughter's age., When I was younger I didn't have much support from my parents with any problems life threw at me (or the one's I took on by choice) but with my daughter it's different, I am more like a friend than her old man. and she is the type who is always asking why, why, why,only time will tell if being supportive works better than a firm hand....................