Military trains on domestic violence

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

Turkish Family and Social Policies Minister Fatma Şahin.

Gendarmerie Gen. Cmdr. Bekir Kalyoncu said they were planning a 16-hour lecture program as a first step.

“This is because we have already come to the midpoint of the year. Next year we will increase the number of lectures according to needs and coordinate the process with the ministry.”

Some 2,200 gendarmerie personnel as well as 130,000 soldiers will benefit from the lectures, which will be run in coordination with the Ministry of Family and Social Policies.

Family and Social Policies Minister Fatma Şahin attended the “Importance of the Security Forces in Preventing Violence Against Women” class held at the Gendarmerie Schools Commandership in Ankara yesterday. The courses are being given as part of a protocol signed between the Family and Social Policies Ministry and the Interior Ministry.

Speaking before attending the class, Şahin said the lecture would mark a new beginning in Turkey. “We are on the verge of a new era in which the human rights of both men and women will be rendered and the problems of both parties will be considered within a new educational framework, which cannot be limited to one seminar or conference, and which aims to handle these problems with preventive measures.”

Şahin also attended the 21st Quality Congress in Istanbul yesterday. Speaking at the congress, the minister again mentioned violence against women and said economic empowerment and education of women were the best preventive measures to solve violence against women.