PARLIAMENT UNNERVED BY ALARMING SURGE IN CRIME
Ercan Yavuz Ankara

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Feb 19 2007

A parliamentary commission set up to investigate a surge in violence
across Turkey came up with astounding facts when the police sent
it a report containing comparative data on crimes committed across
the country.

Rising violence hit newspaper headlines and triggered a public debate
on causes of the phenomenon when high school children in several parts
of Turkey injured and even killed each other for a variety of reasons
in numerous reported incidents. The debate peaked when Ogun Samast,
a 17-year-old secondary school graduate from the Black Sea province
of Trabzon, gunned down Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in
downtown Ýstanbul in broad daylight.

The report, prepared by the Police Directorate General, shows that
there was a dramatic increase in crimes such as domestic violence,
murder and robbery in 2006, when compared to 2005 data. Number of
incidents of crime has risen to more than 2 million a year from an
average of 300,000 only five years ago.

"We have a generation that uses violence as a method to achieve
personal goals of a different kind," said Omer Ozyýlmaz, a member of
Parliament’s Commission for the Investigation of Violence. "People
who have personal problems and problems of identity do not respect
lives and property of others."

He identified uncontrolled migration to big cities and the ensuing
problem of adaptation to a new culture as well as financial problems
stemming from rampant unemployment as the main factors behind the rise
in violence, especially among the young population. Coupled with an
overall problem with law enforcement, these factors turn disillusioned
youth into easy prey for criminal gangs, he said."We are creating a
young generation that is prone to commit every kind of evil action,"
he said.

According to the police report, the total number of incidents of
crime stood at more than 460,000, representing a dramatic increase
as compared to 2005, when the number of crimes was less than 290,000.

The report also shows that the biggest surge between 2005 and 2006
was in incidents of personal injury; the police reported more than
50,000 cases of injury in 2006, a big surge as compared to 2005 when
the same number was approximately 36,000.

There was also a dramatic increase in cases of assault and abduction.

Some 71,564 cases of assault were reported in 2006, while this figure
stood at 46,612 in the previous year. There were nearly 7,700 cases
of abduction in 2006, compared to approximately 5,600 a year ago.

The figures point to a dramatic rise in domestic violence as well;
the police said there were more than 17,000 cases of "mistreatment
of family" in 2006, while the number of such cases was 9,901 in 2006.

Rising trends in suicide cases were also noteworthy. The number of
attempted suicides rose to 18,527 in 2006 from 12,094 in 2005. There
was a surge in the unauthorized possession of weapons, too. Security
forces seized 19,137 unlicensed weapons in 2006 compared to 10,667
in 2005. There was also a rising trend in robberies; the number of
residential burglaries increased from 53,932 to 85,956 while that
of burglaries of offices rose from 43,733 to 55,967. Moreover, car
thefts also increased from 32,051 in 2005 to 68,855 in 2006.

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