Turkey to adopt Austrian model to combat domestic violence

The Justice Ministry is planning to adopt Austrian policing methods to combat domestic violence, according to ministry officials. The decision follows visits by officials from the ministry's Prison and Correctional Facilities Directorate to such countries as Britain, Spain and Germany to see how their security forces work to prevent men from harming their partners. The Austrian model was chosen, officials said, because it is used as a model by many countries and has been highly successful in reducing and preventing domestic violence. Austria has strict laws to control abusers, who are often tracked with electronic tagging systems. Women who are being stalked by abusive partners are also given "panic buttons" that they can use to call the police at any time. Officials also said Turkey will award a contract to a US firm to manufacture the tagging system. Family and Social Policy Minister Fatma Sahin recently announced that electronic tagging would be used to better enforce restraining orders on known abusers. She said last week that passing legislation to allow such tagging will be the first piece of business Parliament will address when its new legislative term opens.