Turkish DM: 965 suicides among soldiers in 10 years

A total of 965 Turkish soldiers committed suicide in the past 10 years, outnumbering the 601 killed in combatting terrorists, Turkish Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz said on Saturday. Drug addiction, domestic disputes, financial problems, maltreatment, mental disorders and adaptation problems are behind the high suicide rate among the soldiers, said Yilmaz, responding to a parliamentary inquiry submitted by pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party. Yilmaz said the suicides committed in the Turkish Armed Forces were not epidemiologically different from civilian suicides. According to a statement by the General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces in December 2012,the suicide rate among Turkish soldiers dropped to 15 percent in 2011 from 32 percent in 2002.