Pharmacies to offer violence counseling to women

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

Pharmacies in Turkey will soon provide counseling services to women subjected to violence as part of a campaign called “violence is a crime, ask for help.”

With the campaign initiated by daily Hürriyet and the Association of All Pharmacists Cooperatives (TEKB), some 14,000 pharmacies across Turkey will provide information to women about institutions they can apply to in case they are subjected to violence. Banners and posters will be put up in pharmacies and pharmacists will begin to offer the services as of March 8, International Women’s Day. The campaign will be effective for a month. 

Speaking at a press conference about the campaign, TEKB Chairman Mustafa Turunç said more than half of all women are subjected to physical, psychological, economic, sexual or social violence, according to statistics. 

“Our pharmacies are health centers where people can easily go and express their opinions. All pharmacists are kind of psychologists to all patients, patient relatives and local people. Our people do not only come to pharmacies to buy medicine or get health services. They also express all their problems freely. With this social role of our pharmacists in mind, we know that we have the capability to increase social awareness on the prevention of violence against women, and convey the notion that violence is a crime and those who are subjected to violence are not alone,” Turunç said. 

“As part of the project, pharmacies will put up banners prepared for this campaign in their windows and most visible places. On these banners, we say that violence is a crime. We prepared these banners to inform people about places they can apply to when they are subjected to violence or witness someone being subjected to violence. Besides this, there will be brochures at the pharmacies of our pharmacist partners. We will provide this information to whoever wants it, whoever is sensitive about it and knowledgeable about it. In these notes, we define domestic violence and emphasize that domestic violence is not an internal issue of a family, as well as saying that violence does not have any legitimate reason and defining the centers that can be applied to on this issue,” he said.

“We have 14,000 partner pharmacists. We are not that effective in eastern Turkey and northeastern Turkey. But except those regions, around 14,000 pharmacist partners will participate [in the campaign]... In this month, we think that we can raise the awareness of over 3 million people,” he added.