Turkish court says one-time disloyalty not reason enough for divorce

ISTANBUL

Hürriyet Photo

Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals has overturned a divorce decision on the grounds that a wife’s alleged affair was not tantamount to constant behavior but a one-time act, daily Hürriyet reported today.

An Istanbul court had allowed D.B. to divorce his wife on the grounds of "marital infidelity" after his wife, G.B., was adjudged to be engaged in an affair on the basis of phone messages and holiday photos showing her with another man.

The court ordered D.B. to pay alimony for the couple’s child, but not to G.B.

The high court, however, struck down the decision, ruling that while G.B.’s affair would have been reason enough for a divorce, the lower court’s decision to allow the divorce on the grounds that she had “not been living a dishonorable life” was incorrect as her fling was a one-time act and not a long-term relationship.