Intimate partner violence against women in different ethnic cultures in the samandağ district of the province of Hatay

Intimate partner violence against women is a universal fact that is common in theworld and has negative influence on the health of women. The domestic violence has beenoverlooked for many years, and even appreciated in the traditional perception. Yet theresearches that have been carried out have revealed various dramatic aspects of the point andcontributed to both legal and social regulations be performed.This research was carried out to determine the reasons for the intimate partnerviolence. The research was done in three different ethnic groups of the province of Hatay,which are Arab-Alawites, Sunni-Turks and Orthodox Greek Cypriots of Turkish Nationality,thus including 270 women in total, 90 women for each group. The research was planned as acontrolled cross-sectional one.According to the results of the research, 93,3% of the women were exposed to at leastone sort of violence. 65,1% of the women stated that they faced physical violence, 84,4%emotional violence, 37,1% economic violence, 81,1% sexual violence. Among the sorts ofviolence, emotional violence was found out to be the most common one whereas theeconomic violence was the least experienced sort of violence.This research revealed that sexual violence differed from one ethnic group to another.The differentiation was considered to have stemmed from the traditional family structure ofthe Sunni-Turks such as deeming sex a shame, being unable to refuse man?s call for sex,considering sex something proper to man etc.On the other hand, it was found out some differentiations for the reasons for usingviolence. For Arab-Alawites and Sunni-Turks, ?the stubbornness of women? was a reason touse violence. On the other hand, for the Greek-Cypriots ?men?s tendency to cheat his spouse?was reason to use violence on them.After the physical violence, it was Orthodox Greek Cypriots of Turkish Nationality(20%) that received the medical aid most, on the other hand Sunni-Turks (4,4%) get medicalaid least.Even though 85,9 % of the women included in the research considered beating as?horrible thing? and unfairness to women, 61,9% of them thought that in some cases beatingwas necessary.In conclusion, although the violence against women within the family has similaraspects in different ethnic groups, there are differentiations between the cultures in terms ofthe reasons for violence and sorts of it.XKey Words: Intimate partner violence, different cultures, physical, economic,emotional, sexual violence, reasons for violence