Justice Through Domestic Violence Legislation: Improving the Implementation of Turkey’s Law 4320 on the Protection of the Family

Abstract

As a country that embodies the union of Islamic and Western values, Turkey plays a unique role with regard to women’s rights and domestic violence. This article analyzes the state of gender and domestic violence in Turkey, and the extent to which Law 4320 on the ‘Protection of the Family’ has been effectively implemented as a means of protecting survivors of domestic violence. The article proposes five policy recommendations to deal with the challenges Turkey has encountered in imple menting Law 4320. Thus, in addition to advancing Turkey’s response to domestic violence, these recommendations aim to be guidelines for other countries as they enact and implement their own legislation.