Non-sexual harassment was the most common form of victimization reported in Turkey’s first official crime victimization survey, followed by cybercrime and consumer fraud, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said on Wednesday.
TurkStat said it interviewed 18,378 people aged 15 and older across Turkey between October 6 and December 19, 2025. The survey measured people’s experiences of crime, whether they reported those incidents and how safe they felt, rather than crimes recorded by police or prosecutors.
The survey found that 4.6 percent of respondents said they had experienced non-sexual harassment in the previous 12 months. Cybercrimes followed at 3.5 percent, while consumer fraud stood at 2.8 percent.
The term “non-sexual harassment” is an international statistical category, not the name of a single offense in Turkish criminal law. The United Nations uses the category in Sustainable Development Goal data on victims of “non-sexual or sexual harassment” in the previous 12 months. UN metadata says non-sexual harassment refers to harassing behavior without a sexual element that can cause fear for physical safety or emotional distress, and may overlap with psychological violence.
In Turkish law conduct counted under this category may correspond to several offenses depending on the facts. The closest are “disturbing the peace and tranquility of a person” under Article 123 of the Turkish Penal Code and “persistent stalking” under Article 123/A.
The category may also overlap with threats, insults, blackmail or assault if the conduct includes those acts. TurkStat, however, listed threats and assault separately, meaning its “non-sexual harassment” category should not be read as a direct count of every Turkish Penal Code offense that can involve harassment.
Robbery had the lowest prevalence among the categories measured, at 0.1 percent. Vehicle theft stood at 0.2 percent and theft of items from vehicles at 0.6 percent.
The survey also showed that victims were much more likely to report property crimes than harassment or bribery.
Vehicle theft had the highest reporting rate, with 81.3 percent of victims saying they notified an official body. The reporting rate was 68.4 percent for motorcycle or moped theft and 53.3 percent for assault and injury.
Bribery had the lowest reporting rate, at 5.1 percent. Sexual harassment was reported in 11 percent of cases, while non-sexual harassment was reported in 14.7 percent.
The findings suggest that police and court statistics may capture only part of the public’s experience with harassment and corruption. Victimization surveys are designed to measure crimes and harmful conduct that may not be reported to authorities. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe say such surveys are used to improve comparability across countries and provide information that cannot be obtained from official crime records alone.
TurkStat also asked households what measures they took to protect themselves from crime.
The most common measure was an armored or steel door, used by 70.7 percent of households. Security cameras followed at 35.5 percent, while window bars or shutters were used by 28 percent.
The least common measures were burglar alarms, at 4.7 percent, guard dogs at 4.8 percent and pepper spray or electric shock devices at 5.5 percent.
The data showed differences between urban and rural areas. Firearms and guard dogs were more common in rural areas, while steel doors, security cameras, special locks, private security personnel, alarms and pepper spray or electric shock devices were more common in dense urban areas.
TurkStat also measured financial losses from crime. In all categories, the most common loss was 24,999 Turkish lira ($548) or less. In home burglary and consumer fraud cases, losses of 100,000 lira or more ranked second.
In home burglaries, 16.6 percent of respondents said nothing was stolen in the most recent incident. Electronic or electrical items were stolen in 15.5 percent of home burglary cases, followed by jewelry, watches and gold at 14.9 percent.
In other theft cases, wallets, bags, suitcases and document bags were the most frequently stolen items, at 19.4 percent. Mobile phones followed at 15.2 percent.