Three Turkish ministries deny responsibility for femicide victim who sought help 23 times

Duvar English

Three ministries testified in the case of Ayşe Tuba Arslan, whose 2019 murder her family blames on the government, as the victim had sought legal help a shocking 23 times before her murder, the daily Hürriyet reported on March 31.

Arslan's family sued the Justice Ministry, the Interior Ministry and the Family, Labor and Social Sciences Ministry for emotional damages, as they viewed the woman's slaughter to be a result of the government's gross neglect.

The Justice Ministry said that it was unacceptable for parties to "sue the ministry because they deemed a ruling they weren't satisfied with to be a legal oversight."

The victim had sought help with law enforcement to say that her ex-husband Yalçın Özalpay was going to kill her, which the government failed to protect her from. 

The Justice Ministry claimed that the family's lawsuit against them would imply that the family wished for the state to intervene in judiciary proceedings, a practice that's evident in Turkish court rulings that seem to often fall in line with the government's interests.

The ministry also denied that the victim had presented a petition to the Eskişehir Courthouse that read "Will you help me when I'm dead?"

The Interior Ministry said that "there's no fault to be assigned" to them in Arslan's murder, as "the incident in question was a result of the intentional actions of a third party," namely Özalpay.

"The petitioners' request for damages must be rejected considering our ministry has no fault in the incident," the Interior Ministry said in their statement to the court. 

The Family, Labor and Social Services Ministry altogether rejected Arslan had ever sought out help with them, and that any precautionary measure that could have been taken would have required a petition by the victim.