Harasser becomes the harassed in Turkish justice

Imagine a situation where you are staying in a girls’ dormitory managed by the Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet). 

Imagine a situation where you are staying in a girls’ dormitory managed by the Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet). The neighborhood is problematic; there are many workshops and factories around and you are constantly exposed to verbal and physical harassment. You are treated with medication to calm down.

You call the dorm management many times, saying, “Find a solution. Increase security precautions. Have more lights put on the street. Increase the number of shuttles between the school and the dormitory.”

The reply comes as this: “If you stay outside until late hours, this is what happens.” 
If you are a woman, you are born guilty. 

This is Turkey. 

Imagine a situation where you are a young girl in Turkey. You have been sexually harassed by your uncle for six years. You expect justice to be done; if you have luck, you would take the case to court.

The judge takes a look at the case and says, “Well, her virginity is intact.” This immediately reduces the molesting uncle’s penalty from 14 years to between three and eight years. 

If you are a woman, the only damage control is your hymen.

This is Turkey.

Imagine a situation where you live in the village of Çermik. You are 13 years old. You attend a Quran teaching course while walking hand in hand with a girlfriend of yours. In the most secure of all environments, would an imam hurt you? 

He would. He harasses you many times, both you and your friend. He takes off his clothes, then your clothes. He touches you.  

You complain; the guy is tried without arrest. 

If you are a woman, you are the first suspect. 

This is Turkey.

Imagine a situation where you are living in an orphanage in Samsun. One of your friends’ uncle visits the place from time to time. You are very young, you would trust him. After all, he is your friend’s uncle. 
Then, one day, you come across him on the street while you are walking with friends. He offers to buy ice cream for you. Then he wants to check if your hair is wet or not, if your back is wet or not. He starts touching and tries to kiss.

You throw stones at the guy and run away. You report the incident and a case is opened. 

The court rules separately: Two years, six months in jail for the man, for each child. He appeals the ruling. What does the high court do? It overturns the decision on the grounds that the act, my dear, “stopped at the attempt phase.” 

If you are a woman, you should tolerate a few gropes and touches. 

This is Turkey. 

Imagine a situation where you are an academic at a university. You live on the campus. One evening, the campus workers beat you and harass you. 

Will the rector think about you? How much does he care about your trauma? 

He says, “The public should not hear of this. If the press learns about this we are finished.” He covers up the incident. 

You call security; the incident is referred to the police. The suspects are detained just for show. They are released immediately. 

If you are a woman, you are the stain of your school.

This is Turkey.

Imagine a situation where you are a bold, super-intelligent woman. You are sick and tired of harassment. You come up with a bright idea. You record on video the guy who was harassing you on the bus and share it on social media. It is a genius way to draw attention to harassment and you are applauded. But you cannot honestly be very polite. After being groped for 30 minutes, you say in the video, “The guy you are seeing right next to me has been groping me for half-an-hour. Yes, this man. I wish they had groped your mother like this.”

One day you learn that you have been taken to court on the grounds that you have insulted your harasser.

The system in this country always, always, protects the harasser. 

This is Turkey.