A report released by the Umut (Hope) Foundation, a leading advocate of gun control in Turkey, has revealed that there has been a 69 percent rise in the number of incidents including the use of a gun in Turkey since the beginning of 2015.
The foundation’s 2018 report, titled “Turkey’s Map of Arms Violence,” was drafted following screening of news about gun violence that has been covered by local and national newspapers since 2015.
While the number of incidents including gun violence was 2,175 in 2015, this number rose to 3,679 in 2018.
According to the report the highest increase in cases of gun violence in 2018 took place in Turkey’s Marmara region, which includes Turkey’s most densely populated city, İstanbul, with an 88 percent increase compared over 2015.
In 3,679 incidents that took place in 2018, a total of 2,279 people were killed and 3,762 others were injured by rifles, guns and sharp objects
“There are 25 million guns in our country, 85 percent of which are unlicensed. Perhaps this figure is even higher because as the recent murder cases in the country show, it is possible for anyone, even for kids, to be able to own guns by ordering them online, and the guns are transported to their door,” the report said.