Footage of Turkish police officers brutally beating a female suspect has shone a spotlight on the country's alarming statistics of violence against women.
The CCTV footage, which shows two plain-clothed officers repeatedly slapping and beating a female detainee, was broadcasted by the Turkish media last week and has since sparked public outrage.
“The perpetrators should be punished, there is political will to take swift action,” Turkey's minister of family and social policy, Fatma Sahin, told CNN.
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“Violence in a police station, especially against a woman is unacceptable.”
However, violence against women is not uncommon in Turkey.
A 2009 government report found that 42 per cent of women surveyed said they were victims of either physical or sexual abuse.
The women seen in the video says she is still traumatised by the ordeal.
The 37-year-old says she was detained when she failed to provide identification to police when they raided a nightclub in which she was at.
She is currently facing up to six years in prison for charges of resisting arrest and reckless behaviour.
The perpetrating officers are expected to stand trial for using excessive force – a charge which carries a maximum jail term of one and a half years.
Human rights activists say the case highlights a culture of impunity in the Turkish police force.
“There are lots of efforts by the police themselves, repeated time and time again, to cover up their own abuses,” Emma Sinclair Webb from Human Rights Watch said.
“One of the ways they do that is by instantly filing a counter-charge.”
Turkish police forces did not respond to CNN's requests to comment on the matter.
