Turkey

Casualties

Last updated: 23 January 2018

Casualties Overview

All known casualties

6,360 mine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties (1,269 killed; 5,091 injured) in the period 1984–2010; 362 mine/ERW casualties in 2011–2016 (91 killed; 271 injured)

Casualties occurring in 2016

57 (2015: 34)

2016 casualties by survival outcome

14 killed; 43 injured (2015: 5 killed; 29 injured)

2016 casualties by device type

7 unspecified mine types; 50 ERW

 

Monitor analysis of media reports collected by the Initiative for a Mine-Free Turkey (IMFT) identified at least 57 new mine/ERW casualties in 2016 in Turkey.[1] Of the total, 54 were civilians and three were military personnel; the majority of civilian casualties were children (39). [2] At least 15 casualties were female, nine girls and six women; of the 28 male casualties recorded 16 were boys and 11 were men.[3] The 2016 total represents an increase from the 34 new mine/ERW casualties in 2015,[4] 2014, and 2013, but was less than the 69 new casualties identified in Turkey from IMFT reporting in 2012.[5]

The government of Turkey reported that there were 57 antipersonnel mine casualties in 2016, including 14 people killed, and four children among the injured.[6] In 2015, 215 casualties (29 killed; 186 injured) were reported by Turkey.[7] The 2015 total represented a large increase from the 26 casualties reported in 2014.

In its Article 5 deadline Extension Request of March 2013, Turkey provided information on antipersonnel mine casualties occurring between 2004 and the end of 2012: 882 military personnel (260 killed; 622 injured) and 168 civilians (56 killed; 112 injured). Turkey also included disaggregated information on the age and sex of civilian casualties for a similar time period (10 years); of the total civilian casualties reported, 15 were female and 50 were children.[8] In contrast, Monitor reporting, which included IMFT data for the period from 2004 to the end of 2012, counted more than twice the number of civilian mine/ERW casualties; 377 civilian casualties of 979 casualties recorded in total.

The total number of mine/improvised explosive device (IED)/ERW casualties in Turkey is unknown. Turkey had reported 4,602 mine/ERW casualties, including 919 people killed and 3,683 injured, as of the end of 2015.[9] However, according to a media report in April 2010, the Ministry of Internal Affairs had recorded 6,360 mine casualties since 1984; 1,269 people were killed (625 security personnel; 644 civilians) and another 5,091 people were injured (with the number of civilians compared to security personnel injured not reported) in mine incidents.[10] In 2007, a demining specialist reported at least 10,000 mine casualties (mostly civilians) along the Turkish-Syrian border since the 1950s (more than 3,000 killed and 7,000 injured).[11] The Monitor analysis of the period of 2010–2015 found 307 new casualties (79 killed; 228 injured).[12]



[1] Email from Muteber Öğreten, Coordinator, IMFT, 13 April 2017.

[2] For one civilian casualty the age was not known.

[3] For 14 child casualties the sex was not reported.

[4] Email from Muteber Öğreten, IMFT, 17 May 2016.

[5] Emails from Muteber Öğreten, IMFT, 4 May 2014, and 28 March 2013.

[7] As in past years, these casualties were reported as “Casualties by explosion of APMs (including casualties caused by APMs [antipersonnel mines] and [IEDs] laid by Terrorist Organization,” and lacked information on the means of activation and other details. Data is therefore considered to be insufficient to determine if it fits within the Monitor casualty definition and thus has not been included in 2015 casualty totals. Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2015), Form J; and statement of Turkey at Mine Ban Treaty Intersessional Meetings, 19 May 2016.

[9] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Reports (for calendar years 2006–2014), Form J; response to Monitor questionnaire by the Permanent Mission of Turkey to the UN in Geneva, 31 August 2005; and presentation of Turkey, Standing Committee on Victim Assistance and Socio-Economic Reintegration, Geneva, 13 May 2003.

[10] Melik Duvaklı, “Türkiye, 26 yılda 1.269 canını mayına kurban verdi” (“Turkey, in 26 years 1,269 lives victimized by mines”), Zaman, 13 April 2010.

[11] Email from Ali M. Koknar, President, AMK Risk Management, 5 July 2007; and Ali M. Koknar, AMK Risk Management, “Turkey Moves Forward to Demine Upper Mesopotamia,” Journal of Mine Action, No. 8, 2 November 2004.

[12] Email from Muteber Öğreten, IMFT, 17 May 2016; and Monitor reporting.