THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS RECOGNIZED THAT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IS A FORM OF GENDER DISCRIMINATION PROHIBITED BY THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND FOUND THAT THE MANIFESTLY INADEQUATE RESPONSE BY TURKISH AUTHORITIES VIOLATED THE APPLICANT’S RIGHTS TO LIFE AND TO BE FREE FROM TORTURE.

On June 9, 2009, in the case Opuz v. Turkey the European Court of Human Rights considered the case of a Turkish woman (the applicant) and her mother, both of whom had suffered extensive abuse at the hands of the husband of the applicant and his father. Between 1995 to 2002, the women received continuous death threats and were badly beaten resulting in serious injuries. In 2002, in a brutal attack, the abuser stabbed the applicant 7 times shot and killed her mother.  During the years of abuse, the applicant filed several complaints with Turkish authorities, who finally sentenced the abuser for homicide and illegal possession of a firearm.
Nevertheless, the court reduced his sentence from 15 years to 10 months imprisonment and a fine, stating that the deceased had provoked the assault. The abuser claimed that he had killed the applicant’s mother because she had induced his wife to lead an immoral life, like her own, and had been taking his wife and children away from him.  He alleged that he had shot the deceased for the sake of his honor.

In this landmark decision the ECHR considers incidents of abuse in the cumulative and not as separate events for purposes of determining whether the petition was filed timely and recognizes, for the first time, that domestic violence is a form of gender discrimination prohibited by the European Convention of Human Rights. The case recognizes that domestic violence is not a “private family matter” but that it is in the public interest to ensure State protection from it.

The Court found the response by Turkish authorities to be manifestly inadequate and found that Turkey had violated the rights to life, to be free from torture and the prohibition against gender discrimination, as defined by the European Convention on Human Rights.