Gun violence increased significantly in last five years: Report

ISTANBUL

Incidents of armed violence have increased significantly across the country in the last five years, according to a report released by a prominent Turkish non-governmental organization dedicated to reducing personal gun ownership.

The report released by the Umut (Hope) Foundation shows that the rate of gun violence committed by individuals in Turkey has increased by 69 percent over the past five years despite awareness campaigns against violence by authorities.

More than 2,000 people lost their lives as a result of a total of 3,862 armed violence incidents that took place just in 2020, and nearly 85 percent of the violent incidents were carried out with firearms, according to the report.

The report also noted that cutting or piercing tools were used in 15 percent of violent incidents.

Ayhan Akcan, a psychiatrist and a board member of Umut Foundation, points to the lack of a culture of reconciliation as the reason for this remarkable increase in violence.

“We resort to violence in the slightest problem by choosing the primitive. We spread violence in the family, on the street, in traffic, at school and in all areas of life as a solution,” Akcan said.

Marmara is the top region to have the highest number of gun violence incidents, followed by the region of Central Anatolia and the Mediterranean, the report stated.

The top three cities with the highest numbers of recorded incidents are Istanbul, the Central Anatolian province of Konya and the capital Ankara, respectively.

Stressing that 90 percent of individual guns in Turkey are unlicensed, Akcan said that the punishments for using unlicensed guns are not a deterrent, also complaining that it is easy to obtain a gun in the country.

The report urged state authorities to take immediate action for regulating the law on firearm use.