Turkey: Women left unprotected from violence

A Turkish woman shouts slogans on March 8, 2009 in Istanbul where more than 5,000 women gathered to mark International Women's Day. Purple symbolizes feminism in Turkey.

Turkey has excellent laws to protect women from domestic violence. However, there are gaps in the laws and failure by the police, prosecutors, and judges to enforce the laws and that leaves women in danger.

Human Rights Watch:

(Istanbul) - Turkey's flawed family violence protection system leaves women and girls across the country unprotected against domestic abuse, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Life-saving protections, including court-issued protection orders and emergency shelters, are not available for many abuse victims because of gaps in the law and enforcement failures.

The 58-page report, "‘He Loves You, He Beats You': Family Violence in Turkey and Access to Protection," documents brutal and long-lasting violence against women and girls by husbands, partners, and family members and the survivors' struggle to seek protection. Turkey has strong protection laws, setting out requirements for shelters for abused women and protection orders. However, gaps in the law and implementation failures by police, prosecutors, judges, and other officials make the protection system unpredictable at best, and at times downright dangerous.

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