“40% of applications are about sexual assault”
Lawyer Diren Elif Vurgun, a member of the Diyarbakır Bar Association Women's Rights Center, spoke to our news agency and said that most of the applications to the center are about sexual assault and violence against women since the beginning of 2021. She drew attention to the rulings of courts in favor of the perpetrators, “Recently, we observe a more male-dominated judiciary.”
MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU -
Amed – Women have recently faced more violence and sexual assault in Turkey. While crimes against women are at an alarming level in the country, the policy of immunity of the judicial system fuels these crimes. Diyarbakır Bar Association Women's Rights Center follows many cases about women and assigns volunteer lawyers to every application they receive. Since the beginning of 2021, the center has assigned volunteer lawyers to 40 applications. 40% of applications are about sexual assault, 40% are about violence against women and 20% are criminal threats, according to the center.
Half of the cases are about sexual assault and physical violence
Lawyer Diren Elif Vurgun, a member of the executive council of the Diyarbakır Bar Association Women's Rights Center, spoke to our news agency and drew attention to the male-dominated judiciary. “The female members of the center voluntarily follow the cases of women, who were subjected to violence.”
“The judiciary cannot protect women”
“We can clearly see the reflections of the political power refraining from effectively implementing the obligations of 'preventing violence', 'protecting the victim' or 'punishing the perpetrator' in the rulings of the judicial bodies. The judiciary cannot protect women.”
“Psychological reports are not included in case documents”
Pointing out that courts rule in favor of the perpetrators particularly in sexual assault cases, Diren Elif Vurgun said, “Our demand to include psychological reports in case documents are consistently denied by courts. When sufficient and concrete evidence is not provided, the courts rule in favor of the perpetrators. Sometimes we see that women are tried as victim-defendant in physical violence cases. Judges of the Family Courts can refrain from issuing a restraining order even though Law No. 6284 states that there is no need for concrete evidence for issuing a restraining or protective order. Such situations have recently increased and they encourage men and pave the way for femicides.”
Diren Elif Vurgun mentioned Turkey’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention and said, “Turkey announced that it withdrew from the Istanbul Convention. The effects of the country's withdrawal from this convention can be seen in the judicial system. Recently, we observe a more male-dominated judiciary.”