Ruling party parliamentarian Ahyan Sefer Ustun also declared, “A rapist is more innocent than a rape victim who chooses to have an abortion”(Johnson, Los Angeles Times 2015). Some other stories of GBV that reflect pure horror include a guilty man who was found innocent of stabbing his wife because he claimed that she was wearing provocative leggings; a father kidnapping his daughter so he can sell her off to another relative through marriage; and a girl who was buried alive as a form of ‘honor’ punishment by her relatives because she was talking to boys. It is also a sad truth that the cases of GBV and domestic violence that make it into court—one out of 30 women interviewed by Ozlem Albayrak and Alp Ardic—are often decided against the female. The unfair treatment can be seen when a judge ignored a woman’s complaints and gave her advice to go home and kiss her husband to solve the issue. If women are not taken seriously in legal situations, they are less likely to feel comfortable and confident in speaking up. Even if a male is charged for his crime of violence, they can get reductions from their sentences if they ‘claim’ that they were …show more content…
The following story is of a woman who lost her life in an honor murder. Her account is unfortunate, but her case has marked a turning point for other women and the authorities in Turkey. Ceyan Sosyal was a nineteen-year old who eloped with her husband. They ended up having a baby girl together, but her husband abandoned her. In order to care for her daughter, she returned back home, “only to be killed by her brother while the rest of the family waited in the living room. Her father walked into the room several times to check why the murder was taking so long”(Shafak, The Guardian 2011). This case has marked a milestone in how Turkey authorities deal with events of GBV and honor killings. Instead of arresting the one who conducted the murder, like how the procedure has always been, all of Sosyal’s family members were taken into custody. This decision can protect more women from honor murders because families will be less willing to conduct killings if they would have to sacrifice themselves to jail time. Typically, families organize the honor murder by using the youngest male in the family as a scapegoat (Shafak, The Guardian 2011). With the Sosyal verdict, there is a higher chance that families will think twice about the situation and avoid perpetrating an honor