DIYARBAKIR, Turkey — “I feel as if we are inching toward Sharia,” a young woman from the southeastern city of Diyarbakir told Al-Monitor, asking her name be withheld. She was concerned by a new bill in the Turkish parliament that would empower state-registered muftis to perform civil marriages.

The bill, submitted to parliament July 25, caused a major controversy over secularism, underage marriage and the motivations of the government in giving new powers to muftis. Muftis are Sunni civil servants who work under the umbrella of Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) and do not presently have the right to perform civil marriages. They can, however, perform a religious marriage if requested by the couple, though religious marriage is not recognized by the Turkish state and gives no rights to the spouses.

Currently, municipality officials, ship captains and mukhtars (the elected leaders of villages) have the authority to conduct civil marriages. Religious leaders — muftis, priests or rabbis — do not. Under the new proposal, when it comes to the representatives of religious faiths in Turkey, only state-registered muftis would be allowed to perform such marriages.

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) government maintains that the new arrangements will facilitate civil marriages. Critics say that granting the right to conduct marriages to the clerics of a certain group is against secularism and the practice itself will increase religious marriages and marriages involving minors. Women’s groups express concern that the muftis would be more likely to turn a blind eye to an underage bride than registry officials.