What Should I Do If I Experience Violence from My Spouse?

In short

At the urgent moment, the police, shelter, and an application under Law No. 6284 are spoken of; the legal difference of the measure is in a separate writing.

At the urgent moment, the police and shelter are given priority. The legal difference of the measure is in the writing on Law No. 6284.

The divorce hearing does not stand in for urgent protection.

The duty authority speaks of an application at night; a memorised neighbourhood is not enough.

Related articles: protection from violence.

The first practical order

1. Move to a safe place; 155 and the police, and a health document if there is one, are the first link.
2. Do not take a measure under Law No. 6284, and the divorce pleading, as the same form.
3. Back up digital threats without deleting them; do not produce an unlawful recording.

In the moment of violence, secure your safety first

If your spouse's violence continues, or if there is a near danger that the attack will be repeated, move to a safe place and ask for help from the 112 Emergency Call Centre. In suitable conditions, the KADES application, and a police or gendarmerie unit, can also be used for urgent support. If there is an injury, ask for a health team. You do not have to stay alone with the person who uses violence and try to persuade them, return home in order to collect documents, or explain beforehand that you will leave.

If you need to leave the home quickly, identity, medicine, the phone, the bank card, and the children's necessary documents can be taken if they can be reached; do not put your safety at risk for these, however. Tell a person you trust your situation, and a safe method of communication. If you suspect that your phone is being monitored, use another reliable device, and check the joint account and the sharing of location at a safe time.

This text does not stand in for an emergency intervention, and it is for general information. In a near danger, the priority is safety of life, not evidence.

Which acts does violence from a spouse cover?

Violence inside the family is not only hitting or injuring. Physical, psychological, sexual, economic, and digital acts can violate a person's safety, freedom, and honour. Whatever the name of the act, it creating fear in you, restricting your room to move, or systematically removing your economic independence is important in the legal assessment.

Among the examples of violence there can be these:

• Hitting, pushing, squeezing the throat, throwing belongings, or physically preventing movement
• A threat of killing, of injuring, of taking the children, or of spreading private images
• Continual insult, belittling, isolation, and forbidding contact with the close circle
• Forcing unwanted sexual conduct
• Seizing the income, preventing the right to work, or not giving money for a basic need
• Monitoring the phone, asking for the password, tracking the location, and entering digital accounts without permission
• After the separation, persistent following, coming to the home or to work, and building pressure with third persons

Not every family argument has the same legal character; threats and acts of control should not be normalised, however, on the ground that "it happens inside the family". An event that creates a grave danger in a single time can give rise to a need for protection as much as a repeating pattern.

Which measures can be asked for within the scope of Law No. 6284?

Law No. 6284 regulates fast mechanisms of measures for the protection of persons who have suffered violence, or who are in danger of suffering violence. The application for a measure does not depend on a divorce action having been brought. Your not having decided to continue the marriage does not prevent you from asking for protection either.

According to the conditions of the event, measures such as safe shelter, temporary financial aid, counselling, temporary protection, or the confidentiality of identity and address particulars can be assessed within the scope of protective measures. About the person who uses violence, preventive decisions can be given such as removal from the shared home, not approaching the protected person and their relatives, not disturbing them by means of communication, not damaging belongings, surrendering a weapon, and the restriction of personal contact with the child.

The court, or the competent authority, can assess the measure that fits the risk, without staying limited to the heading you used in your request. It is important, all the same, to tell openly what was lived, why the danger is current, and the position of the children. If there is a risk in the decision that requires your address to be kept confidential, this point should be stated in particular.

In the first measures of protection, the basis is that delay does not create danger. It is not waited that there must be a witness, an assault report, or a result of a criminal action in order to ask for protection. The absence of evidence should not be counted as a bar to the application; the records that exist are useful, however, as regards the continuation of the measure and the later trials.

How is the request for protection made, step by step?

Which of the channels of application will be chosen can change according to the urgency and to the place you are in. The general roadmap is as follows:

• Report the urgent danger. Tell 112, the police, or the gendarmerie openly that the attack continues, whether there is a weapon, and the position of the children.
• Move to a safe place. If a relative's home is not safe, tell the police, or an officer of the Violence Prevention and Monitoring Centre, your need of shelter and of confidentiality.
• Ask for a health assessment. If there is an injury, an attempt at suffocation, sexual violence, or intense anxiety, apply to a health institution; tell correctly how the event took place.
• State the needs within the scope of Law No. 6284. Connect removal, not approaching, a ban on communication, allocation of the dwelling, temporary protection, and the measures relating to the children with the concrete risk.
• Keep the information of the decision safely. Keep the file number and a copy of the decision in a safe place other than the phone as well.
• Notify the decision to the relevant institutions. If limited persons, such as the school, the workplace, or the security of the building, need to know, make a suitable notification while protecting privacy.
• Record every breach without delay. In a message, a call, an approach, or contact through a third person, inform the police.
• Reassess the risk without waiting for the period to end. If the danger continues, apply for the measure to be extended, or for its scope to be changed.

During the application, it is useful to tell the events completely, but as chronologically as possible. To a statement of "they constantly disturb me", the date of the last event, the threat that was used, and the earlier applications can be added. Because the event is traumatic, it is possible that you have difficulty remembering the detail; this does not prevent you from making the application.

How is evidence kept in a safe way?

It not being required to present evidence in order to obtain a protection decision does not mean the records are unimportant. In processes such as the criminal investigation, the divorce, custody, compensation, and the continuation of the measure, the evidence that exists can help the event to be understood. It is not right, however, to confront the person who uses violence in order to create new evidence, or to stay in a dangerous setting for the sake of a secret recording.

The records that can be kept in a safe way are these:

• The health examination, and the forensic reports
• The police minute, and the numbers of the call and of the application
• The full sequence of messages and of e-mails that contain a threat or an insult
• Dated photographs of the injury, or of the belonging that was damaged
• The contact particulars of the persons who directly saw the event
• The earlier protection decisions, and the minutes of a breach
• Bank movements, or reachable documents that show economic violence

For digital records, keep not only the screenshot but, if possible, the original source and the information of the date. Documents kept on a shared phone can be deleted; a safe cloud account, or sending them to a person you trust, can be considered. Entering the account of the person who uses violence without permission, placing a tracking device, or interfering with their private space can give rise to a separate legal problem.

The medical report, and the criminal complaint

If there is an injury, applying to a health institution as soon as possible is important both as regards treatment and as regards the record. Acts that can leave little mark from the outside, such as squeezing the throat in particular, can carry a serious health risk; tell the signs openly to the health staff. Keep a copy of the report, or the information of the application, in a safe place.

Conduct that constitutes violence can at the same time be assessed within the scope of injury, of a threat, of an insult, of a sexual assault, of torment, of persistent following, or of another offence. An application can be made to the police, to the gendarmerie, or to the office of the chief public prosecutor. Whether the act depends on a complaint, and the periods, change according to the type of offence. The protection measure and the criminal investigation are separate from each other: even if the criminal file has not yet resulted, a protection measure can be asked for.

The account in the application should be in line with the truth; if there is an attempt, under pressure, to withdraw it or to change the statement, this too should be notified to the competent authority. It should be known that withdrawing the complaint does not end the file in every offence, and that it does not lift the measure decision of itself either.

Violence, divorce, and the interim family arrangement

It is not obligatory for the person who has suffered violence to decide on divorce at once. A protection measure can provide a safe space in which to think about the marriage. If divorce is being considered, the events of violence can be assessed as regards fault, pecuniary and non-pecuniary compensation, custody, personal contact, and the use of the dwelling. For the structure of the trial, the guide on the contested divorce process can be looked at.

Leaving the shared home for a reason of safety does not automatically mean unjust desertion. Even if the land registry of the family home is in the name of the person who uses violence, removal, and allocation of the dwelling to the protected person, can come onto the agenda. As regards the long-term tools of protection over the immovable, the subject of the family-home annotation can be assessed separately.

While the divorce action is brought, these interim requests can matter:

• The interim arrangement of the children's care and custody
• Personal contact with the child being set up safely, or under the supervision of an expert
• Interim maintenance, and the necessary expenses
• The arrangement of the use of the shared home
• Suitable measures against a transfer of property in bad faith
• The protection of the confidentiality of the address and of the contact particulars

The measure decisions do not have to be the same as the final divorce ruling. If a new risk, or a new need, appears during the trial, an update can be asked for.

How are the children protected from the violence?

The child not having been hit directly does not mean they are not affected by the violence. Seeing the violence, hearing it, or living in the atmosphere of fear afterwards can affect the child's sense of safety and their development. In the application, it should be explained where the child is, whether they witnessed the event, the needs of school and of health, and the possibility of safe contact with the person who uses violence.

The court can set up personal contact under the supervision of an expert according to the child's interest, can restrict it, or, in a grave risk, can assess different measures. In the assessment of custody, the child's safe setting of care is of basic importance. For the general measures, the writing how is custody determined? can be looked at.

Having the child talk in order to produce evidence, having them tell the event over and over, or forcing them to give a statement against the other parent can lead to a secondary trauma. The statement, and the psychosocial assessment, should be carried on by suitable experts, by a method that fits their age.

The safety plan, and digital protection

A daily safety plan is as important as the legal decision. If it is known that the risk of the person who uses violence can increase at the moment of separation, the plan should be kept secret and workable. It can be useful to determine a password with a reliable person, to prepare an emergency bag, to notify safely who can collect the children from school, and to memorise the important numbers.

For digital safety, the joint e-mail, cloud, and phone accounts should be examined; the passwords should be changed from a safe device. Care can be taken that a shared phone number is not used in two-factor authentication. If there is a suspicion of an unknown tracking device in the vehicle or in the bags, support should be asked for from the police, rather than confronting it on your own.

On social media, the location, the address of the shelter, or the children's school information should not be shared. Well-meant tags by the close circle can also reveal the location. If there is a decision of confidentiality, whether it is applied in official and in private institutions should be followed.

Where the record of protection is read from

The police minute, the health record, and the pleading for a measure under Law No. 6284 are read side by side. A period that is not written in the file is not added. A measure decision is not counted as a divorce ruling. The Çankaya office does not choose the authority for the application for protection.

In Ankara, 112, the police, or the gendarmerie can be used for an emergency; the office of the public prosecutor and the family court for a judicial application; and the Violence Prevention and Monitoring Centre for social support and for direction. Being in Çankaya does not prevent you from applying for urgent police help even if your record of residence is in another place. The need for safe shelter should be stated openly at the moment of the application.

The legal aid of the Ankara Bar Association, and the related rights centres, can give information, within the frame of their current conditions, about an application for legal support. Because the address, the telephone, and the working arrangement of the institutions can change, official sources should be used. For the other connections of actions and of measures within the scope of family law, the family law practice area can be looked at.

A safe close

In the face of violence from a spouse, your duty is not to stop the violence on your own, or to stay in danger for the sake of proof. Ask for emergency help, move to a safe place, notify the measures of protection that fit your needs, and put the breaches of the decision on the official record without delay. The divorce, custody, and the financial requests can be planned after safety has been provided.

Every level of risk is different. This guide does not stand in for an individual safety plan, or for a legal opinion; for the protection decision and the family file to be assessed over your conditions, the relevant institution, and the routes of legal support, can be applied to.

Conclusion

This writing is for general information. The document, the period, and the procedure of the concrete event must be read separately; there is no promise of a result from memory.

A lawyer in Ankara does not write, in violence from a spouse, a period that does not stand in the file.