In Darıca district of Kocaeli, 18-year-old Furkan Celep ended his life after writing a note on social media. Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, evaluating Furkan Celep's suicide, pointed out that Celep might have experienced intense loneliness. Tarhan stated that secure attachment is what connects a person to life and gives meaning to their existence, emphasizing the importance of close relationships with family. Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stressed that wisdom education should be provided to young people, and that they should be guided towards goals such as becoming good people rather than material aims.
Üsküdar Üniversitesi Founding Rector, Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan evaluated the suicide of Furkan Celep, who ended his life after writing a note on social media in Darıca.
Such Suicides Are More Intense in the West
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that the letter shared by the 18-year-old before his death on social media was very significant. He said, “In the letter, he states that he was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and that he had been thinking about it for weeks. When making such a decision, he says, ‘It is now meaningless to live my life just for a car and a house.’ At the bottom, he states that it is not his mother’s, father’s, or brother’s fault, but that he could not confide in his father and brother, and could not feel affection. Now, this is actually a routine occurrence in the West, in the Netherlands, Belgium, and England. There is an incident almost every day. In fact, in England, there are more deaths by suicide among individuals aged 16-24 than deaths due to traffic accidents.”
Lack of Secure Attachment May Be Present
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that, as seen from the letter, the young person who committed suicide was experiencing loneliness, and added the following:
“The feeling of secure attachment is very important. Because what connects a person to life and gives meaning to their existence is experiencing the feeling of secure attachment. This feeling of secure attachment begins at a young age with the mother. Later, a boy can establish it with his father, older brother, maternal uncle, or paternal uncle. But for the feeling of attachment, a person needs to overcome their loneliness. Young people who cannot experience secure attachment develop three types of reactions. In the first reaction, they fall into depression and receive psychiatric treatment; in the second reaction, they turn to alcohol or other substances to satisfy the feeling of attachment. In the third reaction, as in this young person’s case, they commit suicide. When there is no feeling of attachment, a person feels lonely, unprotected, and vulnerable. During the day, they work or study, but when they come home in the evening, they feel lonely.”
Young People Should Be Guided Towards Goals Other Than a House and a Car
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, emphasizing that people should have abstract goals in their lives, said, “For example, in the West, including the Czech Republic, young people organize marches, and banners displayed during these marches read, ‘There is nothing to strive for in life, why should we live?’ When we look at young people, there are such cries. They say we have no purpose to live for. What does this mean? It means their families have not set any goals for these young people other than a house and a car. They have not been presented with a goal regarding what kind of person they will be at the end of this life. Just as parents haven't set such goals, the education system also hasn't guided them towards such a purpose. They are told that the purpose in life is to own a house and a car. But can't a person's purpose in life, their search for meaning, be taught to these young people in high school, primary school, or middle school? Our education system needs to teach this.”
Positive Psychology Courses Boost Emotional Intelligence
Stating that a new branch of science called the Science of Happiness has emerged in recent years, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan continued his words as follows:
“The Western world discovered this. Its official counterpart is Positive Psychology. Harvard University started teaching it as a course in 2015, Yale University in 2017, and Bristol University in 2019. On Bristol University’s website in England, it states, ‘We introduced this course as a solution to the suicide epidemic.’ As Üsküdar Üniversitesi, we started teaching this course before Harvard University, in 2013. We conducted pre-tests and post-tests for students taking this course. After taking this course, students stated that their relationships with their fathers and friends improved, they could better control their anger and nerves, and they felt better about themselves. We found that these children's emotional intelligence increased by 20 percent in the courses. When we look at the course content of positive psychology, there are topics such as self-knowledge, self-awareness, knowing others, social awareness, empathy, self-management, relationship management, and gratitude training. In addition to these topics, there are modules such as conciliation module, forgiveness module, and motivation module. With these modules, we provide children with life success along with academic success. Wisdom education is very important in this context. As a society and as an education system, we must be able to achieve this.”
Managing Emotional Problems is Important
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that the young person who committed suicide might not have been able to manage his emotions, saying, “As can be understood from the letter he left behind, he seems to have been unable to produce solutions for his emotional problems. Emotional intelligence is the capacity to intelligently solve one's emotional problems. Logical intelligence, on the other hand, is the ability to intelligently solve life's problems. In emotional intelligence, one needs to develop strategies for solving problems, be able to produce intelligent solutions, and replace one emotion with another. This needs to be learned.”
Similar Cases May Increase if Precautions Are Not Taken
Warning that such incidents could increase if necessary precautions are not taken, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, “We will either take precautions and reduce such incidents as much as we can, or we will face such incidents in the coming decades. We also observe that our young person who committed suicide lost his sense of hope. The feeling of hope is very important in wisdom education. We try to teach individuals the skill of maintaining and increasing their hope. For this, it is necessary to interpret events correctly. Authentic happiness is taught. Authentic happiness involves being able to maintain hope and be happy under all circumstances. In this regard, our young person was completely without guidance. Our young person may not have received psychiatric help, but at least he needed someone’s guidance.”
Sport is Not the Only Option for Young People
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that families, teachers, the education community, and those who determine youth policies should draw lessons from this incident, saying, “We cannot make young people happy just with sports. Currently, when we talk about youth, it is assumed that young people will be happy if they dedicate themselves to sports. Okay, that is an option, but not every young person is suited for it. Some young people engage in philosophical inquiries, questioning existence. We cannot push every young person to do sports; it is one of the options, but it is not the only option.”
Existential Crisis?
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan noted that from Furkan Celep's note, it could be understood that he was a thoughtful and questioning young person, stating, “If he had entered a good channel, perhaps he would have become a good philosopher. He actually realized problems that many people realize at the ages of 20, 30, 40, at this young age. This person actually experienced an existential crisis and could not resolve it. There is a need to help young people resolve existential problems and the meaning of life, and to be their guides. Those who determine youth policies need to address this and work to prevent similar incidents from recurring.”
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that after this incident, the issue of good and evil was discussed on social media, saying, “They ask, ‘Why did you harm yourself?’ Those who are bad become crime machines, self-serving. It becomes a capitalist morality. They say, ‘If you were ruthless, why are you merciful to an ant? Look, you did evil to yourself.’ This is the solution found by the West. Such people are told, ‘Be ruthless, be merciless. Be specific, be a warrior.’ This is something that disrupts social peace. When most young people are like this, what happens in such situations? An individual emerges who is parentless, dies on the streets, does not marry, and pursues their own interests without any social benefit.”
Social Benefit Could Have Been Taught to This Young Person
Asking, “What could have been advised to Furkan Celep?” Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, “If he had come to us in some way, this child would have been mentored. With good mentoring, this young person would have been taught ways to be happy by producing in life, by achieving a balance between social benefit and individual benefit, and by being at peace with himself. The opposite of this is ‘Be ruthless, be cruel, be a warrior, and only think of your own interest.’ The proposed solution against this is the West’s solution. What happens as a result of this solution? Social peace is disrupted. The person who does that cannot be happy anyway. They become ruthless but stop at a certain point, commit a crime. They become skilled in crime. They do things they don't regret.”
Children Raised with Excessive Criticism Have Low Self-Perception
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that if this child had been ruthless, he could have caused a lot of harm to his surroundings, saying, “He would either turn to addiction or to abuse incidents. In society, you see many cases of neglect and abuse. This child wanted to harm himself and end his life rather than harming others. But if he had found a cruel solution to this, he would have killed someone else, would have enjoyed it. He would have been satisfied by that. This child’s self-perception might be low. This happens in children raised with too much criticism. Self-confidence decreases in children raised with criticism. If there is no meaning in life, such situations also arise. Because the child sees himself as worthless and inadequate. He may not have received education that nurtures self-confidence in the environment he was raised in. I want to emphasize education in the style of 'you are responsible for everything.' An education where the dose of criticism went too far might have been given. Of course, we do not know the conditions he grew up in, I am generalizing. Because these children are left alone, they cannot produce their own solutions to loneliness. Because they cannot produce solutions, they hold themselves responsible for every wrong that comes from outside. He might have a wrong mental perception in the style of thinking he caused it.”
Expert Psychologists Should Be Present in Family Health Centers
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that a good guidance service could be effective in preventing such incidents, saying, “Social support is important in this regard. This young person must have given a clue about his intention to commit suicide. We do not know currently if he was taken to a specialist or received support from a social worker. There is currently such a system in England. In England, there is a psychiatrist responsible for each region. When someone commits suicide there, information is requested from that specialist, asking, ‘Did this person come to you?’ England has produced this as a solution. We need to send clinical psychologists to our Family Health Centers and conduct studies on this. Archival work needs to be done. In such a situation, it might not have occurred to the child where to apply in the state. We need to establish a system where people in this situation can apply for help. A person feeling this way should be able to go to the psychologist at the Family Health Center. This can be done in the short term. In the medium and long term, training on this can also be provided.”