The Problem
You are walking late at night or enjoying a drink at a bar when someone aggressively attacks you or tries to rob you. You fight back to protect yourself, successfully neutralizing the attacker. However, when the police arrive, they arrest you alongside the attacker for assault.
How the Law Works in Turkey
Turkish law recognizes the right to Legitimate Defense (Meşru Müdafaa). If you face an unjust and immediate physical attack, you have the right to defend yourself or another person. However, the law strictly requires proportionality. Your defense must match the severity of the attack. If someone pushes you, you cannot legally respond by stabbing them or beating them unconscious. If you exceed the limits of self-defense, you become the aggressor in the eyes of the law.
What the Tourist Should Do
If threatened, your first action should always be to retreat and escape. If you are cornered and forced to use physical violence, use only the absolute minimum force necessary to stop the threat and get away. Immediately dial 112 to report the attack and establish yourself as the victim. Wait for the police in a safe, public, well-lit area.
The Risks
The line between self-defense and mutual assault (Kasten Yaralama) is extremely thin. If the prosecutor believes you used excessive force, you will be charged with intentional injury, which carries a prison sentence of 1 to 3 years. If a weapon (even a broken bottle) was used, the penalties multiply, leading to immediate pre-trial detention.
LetFix Solution
Proving self-defense requires rapid action to secure CCTV footage before it is deleted, finding eyewitnesses, and presenting a flawless legal argument to the prosecutor. An expert criminal defense lawyer is essential to clear your name.
