Escaping poverty and searching for love: Tragic stories of Moroccan women marrying foreigners

Poverty, unemployment, and insecurity are all factors that are pushing a number of Moroccan women to marry foreign men, considering this to be the solution to their situation. As the matter has turned into commerce with the emergence of networks that exploit the condition of these girls and deceive them, their simple dreams quickly collide with reality after marriage turns into a hell from which it is impossible to get out.

Karima is one of those dreaming women whose life turned upside down after marrying a foreigner. She was working in a clothing store in the Moroccan city of Fez when she met a Moroccan woman who convinced her to find a foreign man from outside Morocco with whom to live an affordable life.

Jusoor Post met Karima, who currently lives and works in a new city in Cairo, Egypt. She recounted her story, saying, “This woman, who I later discovered works as a mediator and pursues this profession, brought me a Turkish man, and I did not know anything about Turkey except for Turkish [television] series, but she painted for me a perfect picture of this country.”

Before her emigration, this young Moroccan woman worked several jobs, including domestic service, even though she had an average level of education.

“Many young women in Morocco suffer from unemployment. We are waiting for any opportunity to work, even if it is cleaning homes,” Karima noted.

“I was receiving a meager salary that did not exceed 50 euros per month, which was barely enough for my daily life and the expenses of my sick mother,” she continued.

Karima related the story of her marriage, saying, “Indeed, I married a Turkish man four years ago, and I was 26 years old at the time. But I was surprised that for him I was just a business deal and not a wife. I discovered that he married me to force me to work in nightclubs, which I strongly refused at first.”

She then added, “After a lot of pressure, my husband forced me to work, and he was taking my entire salary, and he was physically beating me.”

“When the matter developed to force me to work in prostitution, I decided to search for a radical solution and flee Turkey for good,” she explained.

Karima, who has been living in Egypt for a year now, continued,“After that, I met a friend who advised me to escape from Turkey and go to Egypt and helped me financially with airline tickets.”

“Currently, I have started working in a health center as a massage employee, and I am seeking to legalize my status and residency papers,” she added.

The exploitation of girls as a form of human trafficking

Another similar tragedy is experienced by Salma, a friend of Karima, whom she met in Turkey.

Salma told her story to Jusoor Post, saying,“I immigrated three years ago to Turkey. I thought that once I arrived in Turkey, my dreams would come true, and I would marry a good man to live with and compensate me for the years of misery.”

She was received at Istanbul International Airport by a Turkish mediator who accompanied her to his home. Salma added, “The Turkish mediator was married to a Moroccan, and she was the one who translated for me and other young Moroccan women.”

Salma waited at the house of the Turkish mediator and his Moroccan wife for three days until the arrival of the man who would marry her. “The husband and his family came to see me, and at first they were nice and agreed with the mediator on the date of the marriage,” she said.

The foreign husband paid the mediator 3,000 euros, as well as the costs of Salma's trip from Morocco to Turkey. The marriage did not take place legally, but in the mosque and in the presence of the sheikh.

Salma, who still lives in Turkey, added, “As soon as I moved to live with them, the way they treated me changed and I discovered that for them I was just a maid in the house. I worked from six in the morning until midnight in the kitchen. His family consisted of a large number of people, and I am the only one responsible for their service.”

Salma contacted the mediator in Morocco asking to be sent back to her country. The latter told her that if she wanted to return, she would have to pay the Turkish mediator 3,000 euros and travel costs. The biggest problem for Salma now is that she is pregnant and is expecting her baby.

Women's distress reaches social media

Social media platforms are a way for Moroccan women married to foreigners to make their voices heard and talk about their experiences of spousal violence.

In a video released in July, Ghazlan, a young Moroccan woman married to a Turkish man, talks about being subjected to violence and requests that people ask about her in the event of her absence from publishing her videos.

Ghazlan published multiple videos documenting her exposure to spousal violence. She asked Moroccans to help her, and in the event of her death, to support her young daughter.

“Please, if I disappear, ask about me. Did they kill me or poison me? Please, if I am killed or something bad happens to me, please do not abandon my daughter, because she is Moroccan and your daughter,” she said.

She added in one of the videos posted on TikTok, “I am currently living in terror and fear. Please help me to obtain my rights. I am threatened with being placed in a psychiatric hospital and taking my daughter away from me.”

Ghazlan, who immigrated to Turkey five years ago, continued, “I am afraid of being killed, especially after the videos were published.”

Emotional and material poverty

Moroccan writer and professor of sociology Ahmed Charaksees that “the economic and social crisis that Moroccans are experiencing made them consider Turkey to be the solution since it does not require a visa to enter. Young people aspire to improve their social conditions by immigrating to other countries.”

Regarding the reasons why Moroccan women marry Turkish men, in particular, Charaktold JusoorPost that “Turkish TV series presented an ideal image of Turkey. Some women in Morocco have established the idea that Turkish men are handsome and romantic.”

Charak considers that another reason for Moroccan women to marry a foreign man is that “social upbringing in Morocco lacks love and feelings, which makes this poor young woman emotionally and financially believe the promises of the foreign man and his romantic words that she used to hear only in foreign films and series.”

He explained that “Moroccan society is suffering from the reluctance of young men to marry Moroccan women because of the poor living and economic conditions, and they prefer to emigrate abroad.”

According to the social analyst, these women imagine that by marrying a foreign man they will live in love and idealism, adding that a young Moroccan woman married to a Turkish man does not realize that this man has different customs and traditions than what is promoted in TV series. He noted that the wife becomes the property of the husband and his family, and even after divorce, she cannot live her life freely and will suffer from his interference.

Charak called for the necessity of providing job opportunities for women and men in Morocco, giving them wages that guarantee them a decent living, and helping them get married.

He stressed that “it is necessary to open a discussion in the Moroccan society and media about this problem and find a solution to it.”

He also called on “the Moroccan authorities to scrutinize the files of women wishing to immigrate to Turkey and know their educational levels and the purpose of their migration to prevent the exploitation of women by human trafficking brokers.”