Hurriyet Daily News
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Haziran 15, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - Yet another tragedy of domestic violence occurred in Turkey this weekend when a young girl in the southeastern town of Siirt was stabbed by family members after she visited a male friend, according to a report by the Doğan News Agency. Seriously wounded, 17-year-old N.E.’s fight for life continued yesterday in intensive care.
The incident took place Friday night. N.E. went to see her male friend, a D.J. working at a local radio station. Followed by her father and brothers, N.E was attacked in the office of the radio station where her friend works. The father and brothers first beat the D.J. Ö.M.E and then N.E. tried to escape by jumping from the sixth floor. After receiving first aid, she was then taken to the hospital but she could not avoid being attacked again by family members. Waiting for her to come to the hospital, family members attacked her as she was being carried from the ambulance into the hospital.
She was stabbed in five places.Hurt seriously, she was transferred to a hospital in Diyarbakır. Five family members were taken into custody. One was later released.
Three of the remaining four were released to be tried without custody. The girl’s brother Abdurrahim E., 23, was arrested.
Meanwhile Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin will attend a meeting on domestic violence in Norway, daily Hürriyet reported yesterday. The visit comes a week after Turkey was convicted for domestic violence at the European Court of Human Rights, or ECHR. Turkey became the first country to be convicted of domestic violence. Turkey’s judicial system is failing to protect the rights of women, creating a climate that is "conducive to domestic violence," the ECHR said in its ruling.
Court ruling
The court ruled that, Nahide Opuz, a woman from the southeastern region of Diyarbakır, was exposed to violence by her husband, was not protected by the state through discrimination. Opuz was awarded 36,500 euros as compensation to be paid by Ankara. Opuz filed the case in 2002 against Ankara charging the state with not taking enough precautions against the cruel treatment afforded her and her mother by her husband.
As a result of the lack of precautions the husband murdered Opuz’s mother. Opuz’s lawyers asked the court to describe the domestic violence toward the woman as "torture and cruel treatment" and to rule that the Turkish state acted in a discriminatory manner on the matter.
Minister Ergin told journalists that a grave picture comes out after examining chronologically what Opuz went through during the period between 1995 and 2002. Recalling that Turkey has undertaken serious reforms to fight domestic violence, Ergin said it takes time to implement the reforms. "There are misgivings as far as implementation is concerned. We are working to find out what can be done," he said.