VIDEO: Loopholes in Turkey's domestic violence laws new focus for advocates

Men learn of loopholes in Turkey's domestic violence laws and plan their attacks with the intention of landing reduced sentences, journalist Christina Asquith writes for the Hürriyet Daily News. After shooting his wife six times in the arms and legs, the husband of Arzu Bozta? turned himself into police. He claimed he lost his temper in the moment and his wife provoked his rage. Later, he sent a message to his wife as she recovered in bed. "He said I'd better drop the case," she recalls. "I said, give me back my arms and my legs." 

Nearly 300 women were murdered in Turkey last year, yet advocates say Arzu's case represents the emergence of a chilling new pattern: men who learn of loopholes in Turkey's domestic violence laws and plan their attacks with the intention of landing reduced sentences. 

(Video directed and filmed by Chloe Fairweather)
"Murderers do research on internet," says Ay?en Ece Kavas, Ankara representative of Stop Women Homicides Platform, a national advocacy organization. "They look to Turkish penal codes and that's how they decide to kill. They are able to say before committing the murder "If I kill you, I will get only ten years sentence and I will go out again, so what?" 

While strong domestic violence laws have been in place in Turkey for more than a decade, advocates have honed in on the loophole that allows male judges to cite a woman's so-called provocative clothing or behavior as a reason to reduce punishment, occasionally only to a few years. 

Advocates are calling for an additional article on Turkish penal code so that women homicides can be counted as a "major crime" and a longer sentence is required. 

The February murder of 20 year old Özgecan Aslan called attention...

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