SIR: I realise that my view of the 13 year old girl that has gone with her Turkish lover is controversial, but I greatly admire this couple, for she has followed her heart and will for the rest of her life remember her love!

I am nearly 80 years old, but will remember my first love. I was also a very mature 13 year old and knew nothing of sex or life, but I knew that I was deliriously happy, content, and wished to be with him always. But I knew that I must not be caught with a boy or even talking to one. When I was 17 years old I was asked out by a boy I dearly loved, as I did at 13 years old, but alas, because of my fears of parents, his rejection because of my lack of experience, this culmination of indecisiveness, he found someone else. But I've never forgotten him. I was married for 40 years, to a man with a trade, but I never again had the feeling of wanting to share all my time and soul with that special person.

Marriage becomes a habit, and I am in favour of following your heart, and if it doesn't work out then divorce and try again and again!

I was told on my wedding day - "You've made your bed, now lie on it". What a load of bunkum that remark is.

So, go for it, and try to fulfil your dreams, is what I would say to the 13 year-old-girl in Turkey. And his family have accepted her and, by what I can see, have been extremely dignified and caring. Good luck to them.

An honest reader

(Name and address supplied)

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