In mid-June Turkish social media was rocked by the hashtag #PolislerIntiharEdiyor “Police are killed by suicide.” The numbers were spine-chilling: “In the last month 20, in the last week 6, in the last day 3 were killed by suicide.” The General Directorate of Security acknowledged the increase in police suicides June 17 in a written statement expressing concern over the matter.
Yet the document seemed mostly concerned with public relations, comparing police suicide rates in Western countries with those in Turkey. “From 2010 to 2020 our personnel has grown 43.5%, but our suicide numbers remained the same,” it said.
Emniyet-Sen is a defunct association that had fought for law enforcement labor rights. Its former chair, Faruk Sezer, told Al-Monitor that according to their information, in the last 30 years 1,300 officers died by suicide. He added that the numbers are in line with those provided by EGM, adding up to 70 suicides annually in the force.
Murat Bakan, a lawmaker in the main opposition Republican People’s Party, has been voicing the grievances of law enforcement officers including poor management in the parliament for months. Bakan has submitted parliamentary inquiries to Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu. In mid-March, a 28-year-old officer died by suicide. He was stationed at the Presidential Protection Directorate and had left a heart-rending note describing a cruel work environment, including humiliation and threats from his superiors. “Every man has his pride, and I could not stomach these words,” his note said.
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Bakan named two other officers who were killed by suicide in 2021 in his written inquiry asking the interior minister if there had been an investigation into the late officer’s claims. Bakan explained that the junior officers had left behind suicide notes blowing the whistle on systemic abuse and harassment. If there are no investigations, he asked, how can other officers be protected?
A 32-year-old police officer from Ankara told Al-Monitor, “There are many days I contemplated suicide. We all suffer from sleep deprivation. Our superiors ran us around like personal servants. I pick up their groceries, drive their kids and serve coffee. Plus, verbal aggression and threats create an insecure and uncertain work environment. If your superior officer complains about you with suspicion of being FETO [a member of the Fethullah Gulen movement, which the Turkish state considers a terror organization], your life is over. We are regularly harassed by my superiors, their powerful friends and scorned by the public. Do you think my kids are proud that their dad is a police officer? I do not think so. … We are overworked, underpaid and constantly on edge.”
