Domestic Violence in Turkey: Causes, Effects, and Proposed Solutions

Domestic violence is the violence that takes place in the home. Although widespread, it is less visible than other kinds of violence because it occurs behind closed doors and in the context of personal relationships; consequently, statistics may fail to give an accurate representation of the true extent of the problem. The Turkish proverb “Kol kırılır yen içinde kalır,” [The arm is broken but stays inside the sleeve], means that problems within a community should not be divulged to outsiders; the saying is also used to warn family members not to speak to outsiders about domestic violence. In addition to the difficulty involved in accessing information about people’s private lives, cross-cultural variation in what different communities consider to be violence makes comparative evaluation difficult, as there is no common reference point. The expression “domestic violence” is most commonly associated with violence committed by a male partner against a female partner or by a male parent against a child; indeed, while studies and observations have found that both these types of domestic violence are widespread, it is also a fact that the elderly and men can be victims of domestic violence.