The hearing, held at the Istanbul 14th Criminal Court of First Instance, was attended by the lawyers of the parties and the lawyer of the Ministry of Family and Social Services. While the lawyer of the complainant Nezaket Akbulut demanded that the defendant be found guilty and punished, the lawyer of the defendant Özlem Öztoprak defended the acquittal of her client.
As a result of the trial, the court sentenced the defendant Özlem Öztoprak to 3 years and 4 months in prison for “obstructing the right to education and training by abusing the influence provided by the public office.”
Background of the incident
Nezaket Akbulut, a university student in Istanbul, filed a complaint claiming that she was not accepted to the college she was directed to for an internship because of her headscarf. Akbulut was studying in the Department of Psychology Counseling and Guidance and stated that she was not accepted to the college where she wanted to do her internship because she was wearing a headscarf.
Akbulut, who stated that she was not allowed into the college where she went to start her internship on September 22, 2022, due to the headscarf ban, said that the school vice principal Özlem Öztoprak told her that she had to take off her headscarf.
As a result of the case opened upon Akbulut’s criminal complaint, Özlem Öztoprak was sentenced to prison for “obstructing the right to education and training by abusing the influence provided by the public office.”
