Turkish woman posts ex-boyfriend’s assaults on blog for help

ALANYA – Doğan News Agency

A young Turkish woman shared her bruises inflicted by her ex-boyfriend in a blog as a call for help, saying that police remained reluctant to respond to her complaints in the resort town of Alanya. The suspect was detained by the police on Sept. 2 after the incident was shared in the social media. 

Kübra Yılmaz, a 22-year-old living in the southern province of Antalya’s Alanya district wrote in her blog, www.kubray.com, that she had, for a long time, been assaulted and beaten by her ex-boyfriend. Yılmaz, who started the blog “as a last resort” to stop the ongoing violence, also wrote the police did not process her complaints despite her several applications.

Yılmaz started her blog after breaking up with boyfriend Serdar D., whom she met in 2014. Yılmaz posted pictures of herself with bruises on her face and body, and video footage showing a man beating up a woman in front of a house. Several people attempt to stop the man, but he continues his assaults.

Serdar D. repeatedly assaulted and made death threats against Yılmaz after they broke up, she wrote. Although she went to the gendarmerie station to file a complaint, no one processed it, she wrote. “As a last resort, I turned to social media,” she said.

Meanwhile, the suspect, identified only as Serdar D., was detained on Sept. 2 by gendarmerie forces near Yılmaz’s house. 

Gendarmerie forces, along with two officials from the Family and Social Policies District Directorate and a group of lawyers, visited Yılmaz at her house. 

As the group was heading to Alanya courthouse, Yılmaz spotted the minibus of the tour firm where Serdar D. was working. 

The gendarmerie officers approached the minibus and found Serdar D. sitting on a nearby bench, where they detained him.

‘Know who killed me’

Yılmaz wrote her blog titled ‘Torture to a woman in Alanya’ that she fears being murdered by her ex any time she leaves her home.

“If I get murdered or assaulted today when I leave my house for the supermarket and if I go to the morgue without being able to reach home, know who killed me because the gendarmerie station I went to several times did not take me seriously or help me,” she wrote.

“I cannot even leave my house to file a complaint to the courthouse because he is constantly outside waiting for me,” wrote Yılmaz.

‘Forces his way into my home, takes me hostage’

Yılmaz attends an open university (a type of university through which courses can be taken independently at home) and lives alone, as her family is living abroad. 

“He assaults me outside, insults and threatens me with death, forces his way into my home, holds me hostage there, harasses me, steals my phone and money and pees on my doorway when I refuse to open the door. I cannot take any of this anymore,” wrote Yılmaz, explaining the ongoing situation.

Despite her demands, the gendarmerie forces did not take the security camera footage after the incident, she said.

“I asked them to take the camera footages, they did not. They did not put him in jail; they did not even take his testimony. He did not appear in court,” she wrote.

“Serdar D. is on probation and goes to the gendarmerie station a couple of times a week to sign in and because he knows the commanders there, no one touches him.” 

‘To have my voice heard…’

Yılmaz wrote, “To have my voice heard, unfortunately, I had to publish these incidents that have happened to me, to which I have not yet been able to find a solution, here on social media.”

Lawyers’ Association to take action

After the fast-spread of Yılmaz’s posts on social media, denounced throughout Twitter, the Turkish Bar Association contacted Yılmaz to immediately take her to the District Attorney’s office.

Halime Şenli, the Antalya Bar Association women’s rights council head and member of the Alanya branch of the Contemporary Lawyers’ Association (ÇHD), said they will take action over the allegations. 

“We are looking into the claims. We will go to [her] house and talk to her. We will demand the applications of Yılmaz made at the gendarmerie stations and police stations. We will examine their investigations into the incident. We will file a complaint if necessary,” said Şenli.