Fifty-five percent of a total of 6,084 people relating stories of mobbing in calls to a hotline created to provide assistance with labor and social security-related issues are men, while 45 percent are women, the Anatolia news agency said on Monday.

According to the Anatolia report, 6,084 people have called the hotline to report mobbing since it was set up. Mobbing, or bullying, is strong psychological pressure on a person by an individual or a group of colleagues in a workplace, usually with the intent of forcing the victim to quit the job.

Of the mobbing complaints, 67 percent came from private sector employees, while 33 percent came from the public sector. In terms of gender, 55 percent of the callers reporting those incidents were men and 45 percent were women.

The 24-hour Alo 170 hotline was established by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security in March 2010 to monitor, evaluate and seek solutions to complaints and questions related to employment and social security, including instances of workplace harassment and abuse.

The Anatolia report notes that there were also numerous calls related to unregistered employment, consensual divorce and the rights of employees. There are eight Arabic-speaking and 12 English-speaking hotline personnel available to respond to foreigners living in Turkey.

Cihan