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High rate of youth suicides linked to social, mental problems
The frequent suicides among young people in Turkey have been documented in a report recently released by the Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat).
State Minister Selma Aliye Kavaf, in response to a request by Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Van deputy Fatma Kurtulan, asked for a TurkStat report on suicide figures in Turkey. The report showed a marked increase. According to TurkStat figures, 392 men and 909 women committed suicide in 2002. These figures rose to 574 men and 1,131 women in 2003. The year that followed showed another increase, with 681 men and 1,026 women committing suicide.
The year 2005 saw 1,740 men and 963 women killing themselves. Only one year later, Turkey saw a spike, with 1,782 men and 1,047 women ending their lives. The remaining two years the report cited showed that 1,802 men and 985 women had committed suicide in 2007 and 1,924 men and 892 women in 2008.
The age range of those cited in the report was between 15 and 34, which the expert explained as the result of a series of social and mental problems.
Associate Professor Ali Murat Yel, a lecturer in the sociology department at İstanbul’s Fatih University, pointed to two major reasons behind the high youth suicide rate. The first reason is weakening religious beliefs among young people, he said.
Islam, which is the most widespread religion in Turkey, like other Abrahamic religions, views suicide as one of the greatest sins and detrimental to one’s spiritual journey. A verse in the fourth chapter of the Quran, An-Nisaa (The Women), instructs: “And do not kill yourselves, surely God is most merciful to you.” (4:29)
The second reason behind high suicide rates among the young, according to Yel, is young people’s failure to integrate socially into the society and their consequent feelings of alienation.He said it has become more difficult for young individuals to find a place or position for themselves in society due to the influence of urbanization, industrialization and modernization. According to Yel, suicides are soaring among young people because it is more difficult for them to socially integrate when compared to middle-aged people.
Factors that influence suicidal behavior
According to Professor Bengi Semerci, a psychiatrist, there are four risk factors behind the suicide trend in the young. “One is psychiatric disorders, such as depression and hypomania. Youths who feel desperate and anxious and have low self-confidence or self-esteem are at a higher risk of committing suicide. Another risk factor is past suicide attempts, as this raises the risk of another suicide attempt. A third factor is psychiatric disorders in parents and the existence of previous suicides in the family. The last factor is poor communication between the young person and their family. If expectations of the parents from their children are large and unrealistic, the children may attempt to commit suicide out of the pressure and expectations from them,” Semerci explained.
According to the TurkStat report, while depression is the primary reason behind why women commit suicide in Turkey, family arguments and problems are other important factors that push many women over the edge. In addition to financial problems, the other main reason cited why men commit suicide in Turkey is mental disorders.
Do media encourage suicides?
Asked whether the media’s coverage of suicide cases encourages people to commit the same act, Semerci noted that this is a fact accepted by the entire world. “Coverage of the suicides of celebrity figures in details, a live depiction of a suicide site and the way a suicide story is written are all important factors,” underlined Semerci. For instance, she said coverage of a celebrity figure’s suicide with headlines that read “She/he could not bear it and committed suicide,” “Death made her/him a hero,” or saying, “She/he committed suicide when her/his love was not reciprocated,” about the suicide of a young person all have an influence on young people. Semerci said the declining number of suicide cases of the people who jump from the Bosporus Bridge was a good example of the media’s influence on suicide cases.
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