Photo: AA/File
At around 9 in the evening on Tuesday (November 15), a 31-year-old man drove to İstanbul's Bosphorus Bridge, connecting Europe and Asia and a popular spot for suicides. He parked his car, climbed onto the guardrails, and despite efforts from bystanders to convince him not to jump, he let himself down the railing into the strait. The body was later brought ashore by the coast guard.
Tragic Incidents like these happen roughly every forty seconds as yearly an estimated 800.000 people die from committing suicide. According to The World Health Organization (WHO), suicide rates have increased in the last 45 years by 45 percent worldwide, making it one of the ten most common causes of death today.
Türkiye's suicide rate remains well below the OECD average and the lowest in Europe. This has been attributed to, among others, legal barriers,strong family ties, a possible lack of suicide registration, and stigma, as suicide is considered haram in Islam.
The country's most recent data comes is from 2019. That year, 2,585 people died from suicide, marking it the 13th cause of death in Türkiye, accounting for 0.57 percent of deaths in the country. These statistics were well below the 1.3 percent of deaths from suicide seen globally in 2019.
No suicide rates in the last two years
That Türkiye hasn't disclosed its suicide statistics in the previous two years has led to much suspicion, with opposition asserting that the rate grew during the last years. For example, local news in the Black Sea coast city of Samsun reported 20 consecutive suicides in recent months, sometimes with two people killing themselves on the same day. These suicide cases were mainly young people.
In the last year that Türkiye published statistics on the matter, the country got struck by a string of collective suicides. November 2019 saw three families found dead due to collective suicide, with many speculating that Türkiye's economic troubles had something to do with it. Previous studies by the WHO have indicated similar findings, whereby low income and unemployment are triggers for suicide in Türkiye.
The country has seen, in particular, an increase in young male suicide victims between 1995 and 2019. 68.3 percent of all cases are males, and most of them, 27.2 percent, were aged between 15 and 24. This gender and age discrepancy in suicide rates is common in most countries, as it is currently the fourth cause of death among 15-29 year-olds worldwide.
There are four male suicides for every female suicide in Türkiye. In contrast, the average male suicide rate for every female suicide in Western Europe and North America varies between 2.5 and 3.5. This difference is attributed to patriarchal pressures and responsibilities imposed on men. Consequently, gender equality, whereby societal responsibilities are more equally shared, also levels the gender gap in suicides.
Suicide prevention
In a recent interview with DW Türkçe, Associate Professor and Psychiatrist Yunus Hacımusalar noted that likely ten people die every day of suicide in Türkiye. Nevertheless, the country does not have an effective policy.
Fourteen years ago, the alo 182 ''Light of Hope Line'' closed, founded in 1995 to prevent suicides by facilitating access to help people cope with mental depression, shut down in 2007. Despite the significantly rising suicide rates in those years.
Currently, there are no special telephone lines that citizens can call in case of an emergency, except the general emergency call center alo 112. Even though researchers urge reactivating and strengthening these psychological support units, which are considered effective in other countries.
Because not everyone can be as lucky as Vezir Ç. The man in his 30s attempted suicide on the Bosphorus Bridge in 2015, but was saved when President Erdoğan's passing motorcade stopped and prevented him from jumping. Instead, most will suffer the tragic fate of the man who died Tuesday in the same strait. (WM/VK)
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