Official: Thousands of women filed complaints after Türkiye criminalized stalking

Photo: Patrik Nygren/Flickr

Thousands of people have filed complaints for stalking since a new law was enacted in May, TGRT TV reported, quoting a government official.

The parliament on May 27 enacted a new law amending the Turkish Penal Code and some other laws to increase deterrence for crimes against women.

With the new law, stalking was defined as a separate crime for the first time. The penalty for the offense is imprisonment of from six months to two years.

Before the law, physical stalking or sending a message to someone through a third person was not considered a crime, Meral Gökkaya, head of the Justice Ministry's Department of Judicial Support and Victim Services, told TGRT.

"Since stalking was criminalized in Türkiye, there have been more than 7,000 complaints and investigations," she said. "Nearly half of them turned into criminal cases after the investigations were completed. There were even some verdicts of conviction."

After the complaints, offenders mostly showed the tendency to stop stalking, the official added.

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After Türkiye's withdrawal from the İstanbul Convention, a Council of Europe treaty for combating violence against women, the government had started working on a new law.

The new law also increased some sentences for violence against women and eliminated sentence reductions for "good conduct" if the defendant doesn't show repentance.

Women's groups have said while the law had some positive aspects, it also has shortcomings and cannot replace the İstanbul Convention. (VK)