Women’s rights organizations and legal experts have criticized the Turkish Constitutional Court’s decision to strike down indefinite alimony after divorce, warning that the ruling could leave divorced women more vulnerable to poverty and domestic violence.
Critics say the public debate has been distorted by the false perception that divorced men are routinely forced to pay lifelong alimony, arguing that such claims ignore structural disadvantages faced by women who spend years in unpaid domestic work and caregiving, limiting their access to paid employment.
The Constitutional Court’s June 4 ruling annulled a Civil Code provision that allowed judges to grant poverty alimony for an indefinite period after divorce.
According to legal experts cited in Turkish media reports, courts determine alimony by assessing each party’s financial situation, employment prospects and health, as well as whether the divorce would leave one spouse at risk of poverty. Payments end automatically if the recipient remarries or either party dies, and courts may reduce or terminate alimony if the recipient’s financial situation improves significantly.
Critics also point to the relatively low amounts awarded by courts. According to a study by the Women’s Solidarity Foundation, the average poverty alimony awarded in divorce cases was 1,179 Turkish lira (about $25), equivalent to only 6.9 percent of the minimum wage at the time of the research.
Data from the Turkish Statistical Institute’s (TurkStat) “Women in Statistics 2025” report also showed the employment gap facing women with children. In 2025 only about one in four women aged 25 to 49 with children under the age of three were employed, compared with nine in 10 men in the same group.
Aysu Bankoğlu, a lawmaker from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), described the debate over alimony rights as a political choice rather than a legal one, saying the ruling was part of a systematic attack on women’s hard-won rights and undermined the core principles of the Civil Code.
The İstanbul Bar Association said alimony is a vital safeguard for women facing economic hardship, exclusion from employment and domestic abuse, arguing that the ruling violated the constitutional principle of equality and could force women to remain in violent family environments.
Canan Güllü, president of the Turkish Federation of Women’s Associations (TKDF), said the debate should focus not on claims of male victimization but on the financial security of women who are economically vulnerable after divorce.
Gülsüm Kav, general representative of the We Will Stop Femicides Platform (KCDP), said poverty alimony is regulated under Turkish law without reference to gender but that women remain the main recipients because they are disproportionately affected by economic hardship after divorce.
The Women’s Platform for Equality (EŞİK) also criticized the ruling, saying the solution to women’s unequal employment conditions and deepening poverty was not to remove existing protections but to address the inequalities that make them necessary.
EŞİK also questioned the timing of the decision, pointing to reports that changes to alimony rules are being prepared as part of the government’s upcoming 12th Judicial Reform Package and asking why the court departed from its previous case law.
The Deep Poverty Network warned that no regulation that ignores women’s poverty could be considered fair, saying it opposed any change that would push women into greater financial dependence or confinement in the home.
In a statement shortly after the ruling, Justice Minister Akın Gürlek welcomed the decision, saying the government would submit a new regulation to parliament aimed at protecting the rights of both sides after divorce while preventing one party from being put under what he described as an “unfair, lifelong obligation.”
Women’s rights advocates view the alimony ruling as part of a broader rollback of protections for women in Turkey.
Rojda Aksoy of the December Feminist Collective said attacks on Law No. 6284, which protects victims of domestic violence, have intensified since the ruling, pushing Turkey further toward policies that erode protections for women.
Rights advocates said Turkey’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention was preceded by years of disinformation and fear campaigns, warning that the alimony debate has followed a similar pattern.
The convention, officially known as the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, is regarded by the rights groups as the most comprehensive international framework addressing violence against women, requiring states to implement measures on prevention, protection and prosecution. Turkey withdrew by presidential decree on March 21, 2021, a move that sparked criticism from rights organizations, which warned that it weakened protections and accountability mechanisms for victims of domestic violence.
