Adile Doğan from the Esenyalı Women’s Solidarity Association said the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is gradually rolling back hard-won rights as it attempts to impose its vision of the “acceptable family,” and stressed that the effort to erode women’s alimony rights is also part of this broader project of reshaping the political order.
The 11th Judicial Reform Package has once again brought alimony regulations to the forefront. According to draft proposals, the government is seeking to introduce a cap on coercive imprisonment for unpaid alimony, limiting it to no more than one year. The drafts also suggest that no prison sentence would be imposed in cases where the individual cannot make alimony payments while in detention. One of the most contentious elements is the proposal to abolish so-called “lifetime alimony,” a framework that has been frequently targeted in public debate. In addition, the government is pushing to incorporate mandatory mediation into domestic disputes, a move women’s organisations warn will further weaken protections. Women’s groups argue that the proposed changes not only undermine the right to alimony but also pose a direct threat to the economic security of women and children. Adile Doğan, president of the Esenyalı Women’s Solidarity Association in Istanbul, spoke to ANF and described, drawing on the cases they handle on the ground, how these measures fuel a wider cycle of poverty and violence. Doğan said the organisation has documented more than 6,000 cases of hardship as the country approaches the end of 2025. Doğan stressed that the attack on alimony rights forms part of a broader political project targeting women’s economic independence, added: “After making abortion practically inaccessible, withdrawing from the Istanbul Convention, and enabling impunity for violence against women, the government is now moving to restrict alimony rights as well.”
Won rights are being rolled back
Doğan argued that the attack on alimony rights is not merely a legal debate but part of a broader political project to reshape the regime. She said the ruling AKP is steadily dismantling previously won rights as it promotes its notion of the “acceptable family. Doğan said, “The AKP government is ultimately steering the country toward a regime change. From restricting access to abortion to withdrawing from the Istanbul Convention and enabling impunity for violence against women, everything has moved in this direction. They first announced these intentions, and then quietly implemented them. State hospitals stopped performing abortions, and women were effectively prevented from exercising their rights.”
Opposition to alimony targets women
Doğan said that campaigns against alimony rights systematically portray women as dishonest or undeserving, creating a public narrative that makes it harder for them to defend their rights. She noted that, in reality, most alimony claims are tied to childcare, and that even after long marriages many women do not ask for alimony at all. Doğan warned that reintroducing the requirement for women to have formal insurance registration would be easily exploited by men. Doğan said, “Men who worked off the books to avoid alimony payments left women even more helpless. In the past, if a man failed to pay alimony, authorities could seize his assets, he either paid or faced jail time. Now they want to remove that entirely. The proposal to reinstate the insurance requirement has resurfaced, but it was already abused before; men simply worked without insurance to evade payments. Women were left with nothing. Bringing this back again hands men an even bigger weapon.”
Cases of hardship exceed 6,000
Doğan said that the number of hardship cases reported to the Esenyalı Women’s Solidarity Association had surpassed 6,000 as of November 2025. In the majority of these cases, she explained, men were not caring for their children and were agreeing to divorce only on the condition that custody be given to the mother and no alimony be requested. Doğan also said, “Women often feel forced to accept these terms just to escape violent partners and then the deep poverty that followed completely upended their lives. They couldn’t find housing, they couldn’t care for their children, and if they had young children, they couldn’t work. In this country, a woman can only work if her child is at least 12 years old.”
Economic inequality forces women to endure violence
Adile Doğan said that many women tolerate violence, remain silent, or wait for their children to grow up because they simply cannot afford to leave. Doğan added: “Women earn 8–9 thousand liras while rents are 30 thousand. Under these conditions, without alimony rights, women and children cannot survive. Men have easily exploited every loophole in the law. Because of economic inequality, women accepted violence, stayed silent, stepped back just to avoid being killed. They either had to stay quiet or wait until their children grew older. For women with children, the burden was even heavier. This is not just a women’s issue, these are children who were brought into the world together, yet all the responsibility is left to women. Without alimony rights, women and children cannot survive. This is not only the right of women; it is the right of children as well.”