Üsküdar Üniversitesi Founding Rector, Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, participated in Marmara University's online symposium, held due to the pandemic, titled “Mediatized Consumption of Psycho-Social Exhaustion: Violence.” Tarhan, who chaired the session, stated, “Statistics show us that we need to change our methods. Violence against women has become a bleeding wound. No form of violence should be accepted. Violence is a crime against humanity.”
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, referring to the Istanbul Convention and the elements of violence, said; “The issue of violence has become an inevitable part of our lives. Violence against women and domestic violence have become a bleeding wound. Plan A for solving this wound was the Istanbul Convention. However, we had opinions regarding the perception that the Istanbul Convention would change us culturally. The political will made a decision to completely abolish it. In this case, I want to suggest Plan B. We currently have a project that we plan to carry out with the Ministry of Interior, and our work with risk groups continues. We expect the professors here to support our project. We have and are implementing training modules under the name of positive psychology. Furthermore, our Ministry of Family, Labor, and Social Services needs to establish conflict, resolution, mediation, and violence monitoring centers. I believe that the termination of the Istanbul Convention will play a role in increasing efforts aimed at the causes of violence. Violence is a crime against humanity. It is not a method for seeking rights or solving problems.”
“Psycho-Education should be provided”
Tarhan emphasized that Turkey ranks high in violence and that the methods applied need to be changed; “We see statistics that show we need to change our methods. Our country is among the developed countries in terms of violence, which is a very sad situation. Violence has psychological causes, and domestic violence also has its causes. If I were to give an example of a personality type, for instance, antisocial individuals tend to be violent. They become a crime machine. Anger management is very important in all elements of violence. Learned behavior, unfortunately, exists in our culture. As these issues become more visible, awareness increases. As the number of individuals committing violence increases, society deteriorates. If there is something harbored within such a culture, psycho-education is essential as a solution and training needs to be provided.”
“Our education system should prioritize communication skills”
Tarhan also added that today's youth cannot establish healthy communication; “The solution to all conflicts experienced is not provided in our education system. We can see these deficiencies. Young people are well-intentioned, but they break things with their words. Healthy communications do not emerge. If they learn problem-solving, issues will be resolved, and in healthy communication, there are no losers; they either learn or win. Students need to take communication skills lessons in primary school. Being role-sharing in every sense is important and eye-opening. Our education system should prioritize communication skills,” he said.