Systemic Failures and Violence Against Women in Turkey
A pattern of systemic failures within Turkey's justice and law enforcement systems is placing women's lives at risk, according to multiple human rights and feminist organizations. These groups allege that a combination of discriminatory legal practices, problematic amnesty policies, and police misconduct is creating an environment where violence against women is enabled and justice is routinely denied.
The issue was brought into stark relief by the recent murder of Rojda Yakışıklı, allegedly by a man who had been released early from prison under an amnesty law. The Equality for Women Platform (EŞİK) directly linked the killing to this policy, stating, "Amnesty policies are killing women" [36845]. They argue that laws which free convicts without proper risk assessment endanger women's lives.
Once cases enter the court system, feminist groups report a pattern of bias. In the femicide trial of Ayşe Tokyaz, activists accused the court of putting the victim's lifestyle on trial instead of focusing on the alleged killer, a practice they describe as "the judging of the woman's life" [37771]. This sentiment is echoed by forensic expert Professor Şebnem Korur Fincancı, who stated the entire judiciary operates within a "sexist and patriarchal system," affecting every stage of legal proceedings for women [27616].
Allegations of police misconduct further undermine trust. In the case of Esra, a feminist group claimed police officers physically assaulted her and harassed her to aid a coworker, calling it a "murder system" [39768]. Journalist Zeynep Kuray has also demanded police be tried for alleged torture during her detention for attempting to memorialize slain journalists [27334]. Meanwhile, the sister of murder victim Ayşe Tokyaz confronted the accused in court, asking, "Does your conscience not ache at all?" while detailing alleged cooperation between a suspect and police [38379].
The criticism extends beyond specific incidents to the broader penal system. The Human Rights Association (İnsan Hakları Derneği, or İHD) has condemned Turkey's prisons as a form of "total punishment" [27615], while an inmate in a high-security "pit-style" prison wrote to the Turkish Bar Association (Türkiye Barolar Birliği, or TBB) warning, "we are officially being pushed to death" [39754].
These persistent claims from diverse rights organizations point to a deep-seated crisis, where women are allegedly failed by the very institutions designed to protect them.