by Burak Akinci
ANKARA, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Turks are fond of their guns which are historically an immovable but now an unwanted component of Turkish culture and traditions. However, their proliferation has become a social scourge as a result of a spike in personal armament in a country where each year nearly 3,000 people are involved in gunfights, mostly lethal.
More than 1,500 people were killed by individual gun violence in the first eight months of 2017, according to data gathered and published last week by the Umut Foundation, a well known NGO that heads anti-gun lobbyists in Turkey.
The data, which was released to mark World Disarmament Day on Sept. 28, also showed that individual armament increased by 27 percent compared to last year. The Umut Foundation's report was prepared with information gathered from national and local media regarding gun violence.
"Unfortunately, we were faced with the reality that individual armament increased due to the lack of precautions in our country," a statement released from the foundation said.
According to the incidents that took place in the media from the beginning of 2016 until September 2016, a total of 1,990 murders were committed, whereas 2,525 incidents stemming from individual armament took place from the beginning of 2017 until Sept. 22. In the same time period this year, 1,575 people were killed due to gun violence and 2,670 others were injured.
The report said there are 25 million individual weapons in Turkey, of which 85 percent are unlicensed.
"This problem has gained alarming proportions, and it is very serious. There is a dramatic rise in homicides with personal guns. Everyday 10 people are killed in Turkey this way," explained to Xinhua by Ayhan Akcan, a psychiatrist and an expert on gun control who proposes a severe monitoring by the state on firearms.
"Only around 15 percent of guns are registered and it's quite easy to get one," he said, pointing out that gun ownership is something cultural in Turkey, as a result of "an oriental mentality," as he describes it.
"It's a sign of virility in rural areas but also in big cities. Each year dozens of people get killed by stray bullets during marriage ceremonies or other festivities because the merry company shoot randomly in the air to celebrate the event," told Dr Akcan.
According to the foundation, the problem of individual armament is being ignored in Turkey, thus the number is steadily increasing. The lack of deterrent punishments, low price of weapons, ease in obtaining an unlicensed weapon from the internet and not enough effort to raise awareness on the issue contribute to the rise of individual armament.
