Abandonment in the Turkish Criminal Law No. 5237

Law and tight moral rules are interrelated. It is unthinkable to define offenses in terms of criminal law without considering the moral rules of a society. Therefore, it is a requirement of ideal law that acts contrary to moral values that are important to the society are regulated as crimes by the legislator. In this way, it is aimed to prevent the commission of acts that disturb the conscience of the society and to provide deterrence by attaching a sanction in terms of criminal law to these acts. The definition of the offense of abandonment regulated in the Turkish Penal Code No. 5237 is also of this nature. The moral rule of looking after our environment and protecting our relatives in need is protected in certain cases in terms of criminal law. With the crime of abandonment regulated in Article 97 of the Turkish Penal Code No. 5237, abandoning the victim, who is under the obligation of protection and supervision, is subject to a criminal sanction. Two important issues draw attention for this crime to occur. The first is that the victim is abandoned to her own devices. The second is that the victim who is abandoned to her own devices is incapable of governing herself. In this case, this offense will not occur if a person under the obligation of protection and supervision is handed over to someone else to look after or if a person who can manage himself is abandoned. The subject of this study is to present solution proposals for the problematic issues in practice and theory of this crime definition, which also protects the moral values of society. While evaluating these issues, an evaluation of the crime of abandonment in terms of criminal law will be attempted. Keywords: Moral rules, Punishment, Protection and supervision obligation, Offense, Abandonment