In Judge Dursun Genel's snug little courtroom, the feuding couples shuttle in and out with stories of exhausted dreams and unhappy marriages.
"We'll never have peace," a young woman recently told the judge, agreeing with her estranged husband that the only solution to their problems was divorce.
"But who will look after you?" Genel asked. "Under the law, you know, you have the right to make a financial claim."
"I don't want anything from him," the woman responded. "I just want you to make sure he doesn't threaten me anymore."
So it goes in Turkey's newly established family courts where women now have equal rights in marriage, and courts are obligated to put restraining orders on bullying spouses.
Family courts are just one product of the sweeping changes that have both transformed and swamped Turkey's legal system. An avalanche of new laws, geared to bring the nation closer to EU norms, has altered the way the state treats everything from police brutality and juvenile delinquents to commercial transactions and industrial pollution.
"We all have to work harder to stay abreast of the changes," said Genel, the chief judge of a district family court in downtown Ankara and the host of a new television show that teaches the public about the laws. "But there have been excellent steps taken, and I think, from the reaction I've seen, that society was ready for them."
The changes started three years ago but were accelerated under Prime Minister Recip Tayyip Erdogan, who has used a hefty parliamentary majority to rewrite hundreds of laws since taking office 21 months ago. In addition, a third of the articles in the Turkish Constitution have been amended.
The government's aim was to meet the eligibility criteria for starting membership talks with the EU, which required stronger protection of free speech and human rights, and greater civilian control over the powerful military.
As a result, Turkey abolished the death penalty and the feared state security court. It created intellectual property courts, consumer courts, juvenile courts and family courts.
Treason was redefined, police powers limited, criminal penalties revised, trademark laws created and press laws revamped.
In short, just about every field of law changed. Even the most experienced lawyers and judges have found themselves cramming like first-year law students and signing up for training seminars while cases pile up by the tens of thousands at courthouses.
While complaints about the substance of the changes have been few, the velocity has prompted concern.
"Nowhere in the world have so many laws that effect you from the day you are born until the day you die, been passed in such a rush," said Sezgin Tanrikulu, president of the bar association in Diyarbakir.
"Unfortunately the civil code that regulates social and civil life was issued and put into practice in one month and the new penal code changes will come into effect in six months," he said. "This is not enough time for either the judges or for society to adapt."
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