"No to individual armament"
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According to the Turkey's Armed Violence Map and 2018 Report prepared by the Umut (Hope) Foundation based on news reported in the press, 3,679 incidents of armed violence took place across Turkey in 2018.
In 2015, the number of armed violence incidents was 2,175, pointing to a 69 percent increase in armed violence in the last four years.
Here are some of the highlights from the report:
* The highest number of armed violence incidents was recorded in Marmara region. When compared to 2015, this year's report has shown that there is a 88 percent increase in the incidents of armed violence in the region.
* While 1,032 armed violence incidents reportedly took place in Marmara region, it has been followed by Middle Anatolia with 646 incidents, Mediterranean with 503 incidents and Black Sea with 483 incidents.
* The region, where the number of individual armed violence incidents increased the most, is the Middle Anatolia. While 283 incidents were reported in the news in 2015, this number increased to 646 in 2018, accounting for a 128 percent increase in four years.
* Throughout 2018, 2 thousand 279 people lost their lives and 3 thousand 762 people were wounded in the reported 3 thousand 679 incidents of armed violence across Turkey.
"An immediate action should be taken"
Concluding the report, the Umut Foundation has stated,
"In our country, there are at least 25 million weapons, 85 percent of which are without a license.
"It is likely that the actual number is much higher. Because, as we have seen in recent incidents of murder, anyone, even children, can buy guns on the Internet and these guns are, then, sent to the buyers by cargo.
"It is urgent that the causes of all types of violence be discussed in detail; its solutions be turned into projects and these projects be immediately implemented; and state authorities, especially the Ministry of Interior, prohibit the sale of weapons on the Internet."
About the Umut Foundation Umut (Hope) Foundation, which engages in activities and works on individual disarmament, is currently chaired by Nazire Dedemen Çağatay. In its official website, the foundation express its vision as follows: The Umut Foundation realizes education and campaigns besides academic works as regards the rule of law, peace and conciliation, awareness of citizenship, violence and individual disarmament as citizens knowing, requesting and implementing their rights and responsibilities, in order to spend their lives befitting to human honor, to leave our children with a world which the culture of nonviolence and peace is overriding. The Umut Foundation carries out work to mold public opinion, informing and raising awareness. The Umut Foundation is in interaction and communication with all the sectors of the society by adopting the interdisciplinary point of view. It informs the society regularly about the work. For a sustainable, peaceful and high quality social life which can be constituted with the concept of active and participatory citizenship, the participation of all the individuals and institutions, it aims the following: * To draw attention to the danger of individual armament for a society without violence, to develop solution offers and to place pressure regarding their implementation, * To contribute to the development of "awareness of citizenship" with education, meetings and other works, * To develop a national and international network and cooperation, * To be the source of information in the topics it is working; to be the reference in the determination of social policies and strategies |
(EMK/SD)
