Up to 34 percent of Turkish men believe that violence against women is “occasionally necessary,” a recent survey found, indicating seriousness of domestic violence problem in the country.

According to the nationwide survey by Happy Kids Association, men in Turkey had high tolerance toward using violence on women, with 30.9 percent saying violence with a cause is acceptable and that 37.6 percent saying its okay to beat a woman if it involved some principles such as honor, decency and discipline.

Another 18 percent agreed with a statement “The man is the ruler of the house and is free to use violence when necessary,” and 23.4 percent thought it is violence is justified if women provoked it.

A considerable portion of the men displayed pure male chauvinism, with 11.5 answering that they have the “right to use violence,” and 11.8 percent claiming that it is “necessary” to punish women if they disobey their husbands.

It was the first survey that aimed to identify how Turkish men perceived domestic violence, according to Dolunay Senol, department chair for sociology at Kirikkale University. Senol said in order to deal with such problem individuals must be educated on communication within the household and domestic violence.

According to a 2012 data by Turkish Parliament’s Human Rights Commission, incidents of domestic violence in Turkey drastically increased in the past three years, from approximately 48,000 cases in 2008 to over 80,000 in 2011.


From news reports
(khnews@heraldcorp.com)