also in southeastern turkey, a report by the bbc estimated that almost a quarter of all marriages are polygamous. even though it is illegal in turkey, in practice polygamy is allowed to continue. nick read wrote in the bbc that in remote areas like south-east anatolia, "turkey risks antagonising kurdish separatists by intervening in tradition and customs". also the new york times noted that while banned by atatürk, polygamy remains widespread in the "deeply religious and rural kurdish region of southeastern anatolia, home to one-third of turkey's 71 million people".