A prosecutor asked for up to two years of imprisonment on Wednesday for a 31 year-old man, given the alias Ü.Ç., for verbally harassing 23 year-old Ezgi U. in the Turkish capital Ankara on May 14, 2005.

The incident occurred at Ankara's Kizilay subway station. According to the indictment, the suspect looked at Ezgi U., discomforting the woman, and then approached her, saying, "Maşallah," which is an expression in Turkish that means, "May god protect you from the evil eye*."

Ezgi U. was reportedly first shocked at the incident, after which she started screaming, "What are you saying! Can't I even walk normally outside?"

After being aware of the harassment, a security personnel at the subway station asked Ezgi U. if she would like to file a legal complaint. In the meantime, he reportedly caught the suspect as he was getting ready to run away, and all of them headed way to the police station located in the Kizilay district.

The suspect, while waiting at the police station, reportedly said, "Do you I have to wait here just because I uttered a couple of words?" Then he was taken to the Çankaya police office, where he told police officers that he said "Maşallah" to the complainant because simply, "he felt like it."

After listening to the testimonies, the public prosecutor decided that the defendant looking at Ezgi U. in an "uncomfortable way" and then saying "Maşallah" constituted as a "sexual harassment." According to the Turkish Penal Court's 105th article, the suspect will be on trial with the possibility of up to two years imprisonment.

*The evil eye is a curse believed to be cast by a malevolent glare, which is usually given to a person when they are unaware. Many cultures believe that receiving the evil eye will cause misfortune or injury.