Dr. Deniz: “No forensic medicine law in TRNC”

We know medical doctors as people who treat patients and save lives. However, the branch of “forensic medicine” is a rather unusual and even frightening field for many… Forensic medicine specialists provide expert services to the judiciary in the medical field and help in the resolution of criminal acts. They are more commonly known as "doctors performing autopsies". Most of their work is with the deceased. They determine the causes of death with the autopsies they perform.

Forensic specialists do a job that many people cannot bear to see… With the autopsies they perform to determine the cause of death in unnatural deaths, they bring the truth to light, provide a bit of balm for grieving families, and also provide clarification of many forensic cases.

The only forensic medicine specialist in the TRNC for the last 5-6 years, Dr. İdris Deniz likens his profession to a “puzzle”; “I love solving puzzles, and finding the cause of death was a goal for me,” he says.
Forensic medicine specialists say that doctors are not emotionless people, they are traumatized by every autopsy they do, they show empathy and they are very impressed. They even get support from psychiatrists and use drugs from time to time.

While describing the difficulties they experienced due to the lack of a Forensic Medicine Law in the TRNC, Dr. Deniz called on the authorities to enact this law; He also pointed out the need for a well-equipped laboratory and forensic medicine institution in order to obtain rapid results from autopsies.

“NO FORENSIC MEDICINE LAW IN TRNC”

Dr. Deniz stated that there is no Forensic Medicine Law in the TRNC and also touched upon the problems created by this deficiency. Deniz said, “Forensic experts should work as autonomously and independently as possible. He should be able to do his job freely without the influence of any person.”
Noting that, unlike Turkey, there is no law regulating his going to the crime scene in the TRNC, but he went wherever he could to help justice, Deniz said that he could not always do this because he was the only person and there was no means and funds for this purpose.

Deniz, urgently enacting a law in the field of forensic medicine in the TRNC, establishing a laboratory for autopsies and a forensic medicine institution where all tests can be done together; He also said that all kinds of facilities, including vehicles, should be provided by quickly establishing an infrastructure for current employees.

Noting that another problem he had was "security", Deniz stated that he had testified in court, that in some cases the findings from the autopsy could point to someone's guilt.