Women should ‘not accept violence and be strong’

Victims of domestic of violence were on Monday encouraged to speak out and not hesitate to file complaints by chief the Turkish Cypriot police’s Violence against women intervention unit Mehmet Gumussoy.

Speaking to local media, he said “when women face such a situation, they should act without hesitation and file a complaint. You can’t live a lifetime of violence. Women should not accept violence, and be strong”.

He added, “most importantly, when raising them, it is necessary to teach men that violence is a bad thing, and women should be taught how to be strong individuals from a young age”.

His comments came as statistics showed a total of 536 domestic violence complaints were reported in the north in the first seven months of the year.

He said 957 complaints were made in 2022, and that this year’s number would eventually “catch up” with that figure.

“As a unit, we receive three complaints a day. Some of these are not criminal. Some come to the unit for information. As for the criminals, we do what is necessary as soon as a complaint is made,” he said.

However, he said he believes the real figure of incidents of domestic violence in the north to be much higher as many victims do not come forward.

“We understand that such incidents of violence have been seen for years, but women often do not complain and turn to the police or other state institutions until it becomes unbearable. Complaints made to us or complaints made to the 183 line do not reflect 99 per cent of real figures”, he said.

The 183 line is the Turkish Cypriot social support hotline, set up in 2012 to provide support for women and children in need of support, who are suffering abuse, and the elderly, and directs them to the relevant units.

Of the 536 a total of 266 of the complaints regarded domestic violence, including beatings, grievous bodily harm, fighting, wounding, and forced abduction.

In addition, 10 sexual assaults were reported, and 90 complaints of ‘verbal violence’ including harassment over the telephone were also made.

The area with the highest number of complaints was northern Nicosia, while Famagusta had the second-highest rate. The area of the north with the least domestic violence complaints was Morphou.