Sarya Gözüoğlu / JINHA

AMED - Lawyers in Turkey warn that the state practice of trying perpetrators of crimes against women out of detention is dangerously widespread in Turkey.

The misogynistic legal system has emerged as one of the largest factors in the wave of violence and abuse of women in Turkey. In particular, courts' practice of trying perpetrators of violence against women out of detention at a disproportionately high rate risks women's safety, say lawyers.

Since 2013, in the city of Diyarbakır, teacher Düyaüddün Toprak has been on trial for the sexual abuse of five of his students. When the girls told the school counselor about what they had experienced, an investigation into the teacher began. Today, the case continues dragging on--and Düyaüddün continues to be tried outside of detention, working as a teacher at the same school. In a similar case in the town of Kızıltepe, a man who killed his wife continued to be tried outside of detention, despite strong evidence pointing to him in the killing.

Lawyer Elif Tirenç İpek noted that the law in Turkey is a fundamentally misogynistic one. Turkish law puts an emphasis on protecting "the family" as a whole, she explained."Every family is the smallest unit of the state, resting on a patriarchal mindset," said Elif.

"Being tried outside of detention or being tried in a way advantageous to men is the icing on the cake in this situation," said Elif. Men can be provoked to violence by notions of "custom" and other similar concepts. She pointed to a case in which a man, just a week after he was released with sentence reductions for crimes, killed his wife.

"If a short detention can't stop this man, nothing can stop a man being tried without detention," said Elif. She referred to the legal system in Turkey as one that protects men as they commit violence against women.

(sg/zd/fk/cm)