FAMILY Law attorney Ceren Kalay Eken stated that the suspension of the deadlines in the judiciary due to the coronavirus epidemic caused false perceptions. Eken said, “The perception that ‘The proceedings are not running, no one comes to their aid no matter what happens’ is not correct. As the violence increased, the applications dropped. This is the reason for this perception. Non-urgent matters were postponed, but the judiciary and law enforcement officers continued to do their duty in turns. ” said. Lawyer Ceren Kalay Eken told DHA about the effects of the measures taken in the judiciary against the Covid-19 epidemic on family law, divorce and alimony cases. Stating that there is a false perception in the public about the suspension of time in the judiciary, Lawyer Eken said, “Times regarding the procedures that must be fulfilled within a certain time period in order to prevent the citizens from losing their rights have stopped. In this way, our citizens will not lose their rights. However, this ‘the whole judiciary has stopped, all the files have stopped. ‘. Many cases continue to walk. Judges can also take action at their homes through UYAP. Proceedings regarding especially violence against women and crimes against children have not stopped. Because actions against rights other than urgent proceedings have stopped. What we call urgent matters may be the safety of life, the child’s safety. There may be a situation related to the custody of the child, the party holding the custody may be violent to the child. Therefore, the time continues in terms of risky, urgent, life safety-related files. The proceedings regarding the protection order are continuing.” some questions about delivery Stating that there were difficulties, Lawyer Eken said, “Due to the pandemic, the decisions regarding custody were interrupted. If the parties cannot come to an agreement on this issue, it is out of question to receive the child through enforcement at this stage, since all enforcement proceedings are suspended, except for alimony. However, court decisions were made so that the mother or father, who could not get custody, could see their child online, in the form of video calls, at certain hours. Failure to comply with these has sanctions such as losing custody in the future. Therefore, the judiciary provided a regulation on this matter,” he said. there is an increase. The files on the vulnerable group of women and children, who are the most victims of violence, continued. Victims of violence can get a protection order by calling 155 or 183. He can apply to the nearest police station, and most importantly, he can ask for help with two clicks from the website of the General Directorate of Security, with the application called KADES, which he downloads to his smartphone. In this way, the police send a team there as soon as possible. This is a very valuable application. These are all running. The perception that ‘the transactions are not running, no one comes to their aid no matter what happens to them’ is not correct. As violence escalated, applications fell. The reason for this is this perception. Women have a perception that ‘no one will be interested in me even if I go now’. This perception is not real. The whole system continued to walk on guard duty. Non-urgent tasks were postponed; but the judiciary and law enforcement continued to do their duty in turns.”
Stating that they expect an increase in divorce cases after the pandemic, Lawyer Eken said, “In this process, people’s being stuck at home, especially children having to continue their education in the digital environment, increased the pressure on people. Therefore, there may be an increase in divorce cases after the pandemic. At the same time, he will give credit because the executions are stopped. An explosion in transactions is possible,” he said. Lawyer Eken added that many people have recently called and consulted about divorce cases.