JINHA

ANKARA - In Turkey, Zehra Elber had lost her eye after her husband's calculated acid attack. Zehra says that the state ignored her repeated requests for help.

23-year-old Zehra has been hospitalized for 52 days since her husband attacker her with acid. Recently, Zehra lost one of her eyes. Zehra says the police never sent anyone to protect her despite her husband's torture and repeated attempts on her life.

Zehra married her husband, Gökhan Elber, seven years ago. Gökhan abused Zehra from the first days of her marriage. After the couple moved to Istanbul, Zehra went to the police station in the neighborhood. Zehra explicitly told the police that Gökhan would kill her, but police did nothing. Gökhan put out cigarettes on her body and one year ago, bit off one of her ears. After she lost her ear, Zehra fled to a women's shelter. When she went back six days later to retrieve her children, Gökhan threw her out of a second-story window, breaking both her legs.

On May 1, 2015, the two moved to Ankara, where Gökhan continued his torture, now biting pieces off of her body in front of the children. Zehra requested protection from police and opened a divorce case against Gökhan. Zehra received custody over the children. 20 days after Zehra moved to her family's house in another province, Gökhan kidnapped the two children.

After Zehra pleaded with Gökhan for days to let her see the children, he told her to go to a local Internet café. She headed out with her sister. Gökhan was nowhere to be found. He called and said the children were sleeping and that if Zehra waited at home, she could see them later. As the two were returning home, Zehra heard a voice call her name. She turned toward the sound. Gökhan, who had hidden himself in a nearby garden, emerged and threw a bucket of nitric acid, paint thinner and other substances on Zehra, then on her sister. He began to stomp on Zehra's head, but then fled.

Gökhan is facing eight years of prison for "attempting to wound" Zehra. When Gökhan was arrested, his remark--"I know how much time I'll get"--demonstrated that he had little fear of the Turkish justice system. Now, Zehra's mother Ümmügülsüm Oktay says that her greatest fear for her daughters is the day that Gökhan gets out of jail.

"When he gets out of prison, he's going to come after me and kill me," said Zehra. "There needs to be no opportunity for him to finish what he started."

Zehra explained that none of the orders for her protection were ever carried out. The only place she was safe was at her parents' house, where Gökhan chased her and continued to torture her. The most "protection" that Zehra has ever received was being told to come to the police station every week to sign a piece of paper. "I've been tortured in every way you can imagine," said Zehra.

"Can you protect someone with one signature a week?" said Zehra's father, Niyazi. "If you're going to give protection, you need to be at my daughter's door." He noted that the family has applied to the Ministry of Family and Social Policies related to the case, but no state official has ever come to meet them.

(de/gc/fk/cm)