Many victims of domestic violence in the Middle East are brought up with families who normalize gender-based violence and are forced to remain silent about what they endure.
This makes it incredibly hard for women to report cases of assault. However, that wasn't the case in Turkey this week.
A Turkish man physically assaulted his wife in public as they were walking down a street in Istanbul.
People who witnessed the assault did not treat the matter as a "private" one, instead, approached the man and gave him a taste of his own medicine.
The bystanders beat up the man for laying a hand on his wife.
A video of the vile incident was posted by English Turkish daily, Hürriyet Daily News
The vile incident took place on May 30 in Istanbul's Kağıthane district.
According to Hurriyet Daily News, the man assaulted his wife following a divorce court hearing.
At first, one bystander attempted to intervene, head-butting the man. Soon after, other people approached the scene and held down the abuser, refraining him from escaping before the police arrive.
The man was detained by police officers. No additional information on the perpetrator's punishment were revealed.
Domestic violence in Turkey
According to HuffPost, 86 percent of women in Turkey have experienced physical or psychological violence from a partner or family member.
In 2015, over 300 women died of domestic violence.
Though there are anti-violence laws in place, court rulings can sometimes be lenient if a "judge deems their demeanor to be positive and/or respectful."
"Judges follow their social agenda and give discounts according to their own opinions," Ipek Bozkurt, an attorney in Istanbul who specializes in domestic violence cases, told The New York Times.
"Even the existing laws in Turkey are not enforced in practice because judges don’t care about women."
According to the World Health Organization, 37 percent of married women in the East Mediterranean region - including several Arab countries - have been physically or sexually abused by their partners.
"Many countries in the Arab region still see violence against women and deal with it as a private issue and not a public issue," said Mehrinaz Elawady of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA.)
The violence against women isn't just a domestic problem
A number of assault cases in the country have seen men "receive little or no punishment for their crimes."
In 2014, a man in Turkey stabbed his wife multiple times, but was given a "reduced sentence after he argued she was wearing provocative leggings and speaking with another man," according to The New York Times.
In 2015, the case of Ozgecan Aslan sparked outrage in the country. The 20-year-old student was stabbed to death for fighting her rapist.
Aslan was riding in a minibus in a southern Turkish town, when the driver allegedly pulled over and attempted to rape her. She tried to fight back, but got beaten with a crowbar and was stabbed to death.
The perpetrator then "cut off her hands to hide the evidence."
The woman's death led to massive protests in cities across the country.
In June 2017, Melisa Sağlam - a university student in Istanbul - was verbally and physically assaulted while riding a public bus because she was wearing shorts during Ramadan.
The 21-year-old did not stay seated. In a matter of seconds, she got up and chased the man in an attempt to hit him back.
The man, who was identified by police as Ercan Kızıltaş, forcefully pushed her to the floor and ran out of the bus.