Domestic violence cases continue around Turkey

ISTANBUL

A 37-year-old Izmir man kidnaps his 25-year-old ex-wife at gun point and holds her hostage for two hours. Police rescue the woman after a two-hour long operation.

Reports of women being murdered or beaten have continued to increase from all parts of the country, detailing various different incidents.

A 37-year-old Izmir man kidnapped his 25-year-old ex-wife at gun point and held her hostage for two hours July 24 before wounding her with a knife. Police managed to rescue the woman and she was hospitalized for her injuries. Two police officers were also injured during the rescue operation. 

Despite an increasing number of domestic violence reports, an article from daily Radikal revealed that women trapped in violent situations or who experience episodes of violence face bureaucratic difficulties when reporting these crimes in Turkey. After being hospitalized for injuries sustained when brutally beaten by her husband nearly a month ago, 29-year-old Fatma Şen was then forced to jump from a balcony by her husband Çetin Şen. She has had nine surgeries so far to help correct a broken spine and multiple broken ribs which she suffered in the fall. 

According to the police report filed, Şen’s efforts to hire a lawyer remained inconclusive as she had no financial means. Daily Radikal staff had submitted an application for legal support to the Family and Social Policies Ministry in Şen’s name, but the ministry requested Şen garner the legal support she needed herself. Şen, who is still undergoing treatment, said she continues to be threatened by her husband and is unable to acquire legal support. The non-governmental organization Mor-Çatı will undertake the legal process on her behalf according to the report.

Meanwhile, a 72-year-old man murdered his 70-year-old wife after suffering a fit of hysteria in the eastern province of Kars on July 24. Faik Yılmaz reportedly hit his wife Fatma Yılmaz over the head with a stone. Neighbors took the injured Yılmaz to a hospital where she died from blood loss. 

Uysal Sarıboğa, who was discharged from prison, recently killed his Georgian girlfriend Gülnara Bak for “insulting him in the Georgian language,” according to a Doğan news agency report.

In the central Anatolian province of Aksaray, a woman was reportedly beaten by her husband’s family members for “coming home 30 minutes late.”