BATMAN, — The increase in the number of suicides in Batman, sadly known as the ‘Suicide city’ since the late 90’s, enhances the concerns about the beginning of a new suicide period. Four women and a boy under 20 have committed suicide in the city in the last month.
Batman province witnessed two more suicide events at the weekend in Kozluk, the largest town of Batman.
32-year-old Sadiye Boral, who lived in Tepecik neighborhood of Kozluk, was found hanging from the ceiling of her house in the early hours of the morning. It has been reported that Boral, mother of three, was suffering from depression for some time for unknown reasons. The Boral family has been living financial difficulties for some time.
The other suicide happened in Kumlupınar hamlet where 19-year-old Heybet Yılmaz hanged himself to a tree with a head scarf. Heybet was getting ready to go to a university after scoring high in university entrance exam. It has been reported that the Ministry of Health will send a team of professional sociologists and psychologists to the city to investigate and report the incidents of suicide
MOSTLY IN SUBURBS
The suicide events in Batman began in the years 1995-2000, when the city began to receive large numbers of immigrants and increased especially between the years 1999-2000. While it is attention-grabbing that the rate of women committing suicide is higher than that of men, according to official figures, a total of 105 people, 61 women and 44 men, committed suicide in the years 2000-2005.
The vast majority of those who committed suicide were living in slum areas in early 1999’s when the region witnessed intense forced evacuations of villages and intense migration to slum areas. There is however still not any serious investigation into the events and reasons of the suicides in Batman which is often mentioned and studied by international organizations.