In 2023, 2,300 fatalities recorded in 3,770 armed attacks across Turkey

Duvar English

Umut Foundation has released the Armed Violence Map of Turkey published since 2014 to highlight the dangers of individual armament and revealed that at least 2,318 people were killed in 3,773 armed attacks in the country during 2023. 

In 2022, 2,278 people killed and 4,231 injured in 3,984 incidents. The foundation only uses the incidents reported on the news.

Firearms, including kalashnikovs and automatic rifles, were used in 3,212 incidents of armed violence (85 percent) while all kinds of cutting tools, from knives to axes, were used in 561 incidents (15 percent).

Armed attacks were dispersed across various regions of Turkey, with the highest concentration of incidents, 29.23% or 1,103 occurrences, recorded in the Marmara Region. Following closely were the Black Sea Region with 14.71% or 555 incidents and the Southeastern Anatolia Region with 14.44% or 545 incidents.

Subsequent regions affected included the Aegean Region with 12.54% or 473 incidents, the Central Anatolia Region with 12.30% or 464 incidents, the Mediterranean with 11% or 415 incidents, and the Eastern Anatolia Region with 5.78% or 218 incidents.

In the 10 years since 2014, a total of 34,197 incidents of armed violence took place. In this period, 21,434 people died and 31,207 people were injured.

In 2023, the 11 provinces with the highest number of incidents involving arms were Istanbul, Samsun, Adana, İzmir, Kocaeli, Sakarya, Bursa, Şanlıurfa, Ankara, Diyarbakır and Çorum, respectively.

Istanbul was the province with the highest number of incidents with 505 armed attacks and 321 people died in these. It was followed by Black Sea province Samsun with 188 incidents and 74 deaths and southeastern Adana with 171 incidents and 158 deaths.