In my father s house: Honor killings in Turkey

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Yasemin Çetin was only 18 when she was sent back to her father’s house by the very man who was supposed to remain her husband until death do them part. The reason behind the denunciation: She was not a virgin. So profound must have been her new husband’s longing for shedding Yasemin’s blood that upon discovering she was not pure and chaste, he tossed her back to her parents although he knew perfectly well she would no longer be welcome there. Not like this. Not as a scarlet woman. A few days later Yasemin was killed by her very own brother.

Yasemin Çetin was only 18 when she was sent back to her “father s house” by the very man who was supposed to remain her husband until death do them part. The reason behind the denunciation: She was not a virgin. So profound must have been her new husband s longing for shedding Yasemin s blood that upon discovering she was not “pure and chaste,” he tossed her back to her parents although he knew perfectly well she would no longer be welcome there. Not like this. Not as a scarlet woman. A few days later Yasemin was killed by her very own brother.

  Is the word “honor” an acronym for “hypocrisy”? Why is it always women and women s bodies that are rendered the battleground for both communal and national honor? I never heard anyone in Turkey say, “This or that rapist has brought dishonor to his family and village and town and country.” I never witnessed a man being judged on the same grounds.

  Honor killing is not a private matter that solely or mainly concerns the actors involved. Neither is it a malady that is germane to the Kurds or to “some underdeveloped villages far away.” The United Nations Population Fund has estimated that over 5,000 women are victims of honor killings worldwide every year. The countries where such murders occur range from Brazil, Equator, Egypt, India, Jordan, Morocco, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Uganda to Britain and Sweden. And how many of the victims of honor killings are Turkish citizens? How ready is the Turkish cultural and political elite to wage war against this malady? The death toll from honor killings in Turkey (or among Turkish nationals abroad) is hard to estimate. The common deduction made by experts varies between 30 to 70 women yearly. This number does not include those women who commit suicide under fear of attack from their family members or intense communal pressure. Oftentimes it is the youngest boy in the family who is given the task of executing the “ignominious female member” so he will face less jail time. Minors are used as pawns in this lethal game. Equally notable is the fact that time and again the other women in the family, including the sisters, aunts and even the mother, shun the victim. In the case of Çetin, for instance, we know that before being killed she had told her mother that when she paid a visit to her pregnant sister in Erzurum this year she had been raped by her sister s husband. Nobody believed her. Her very own sister took the side of her husband. Apparently widely consecrated notions such as “women s solidarity” or “sisterhood” are nothing but empty words when it comes to family honor!

  True, the government has recently enacted harsher punishments for similar cases, thus increasing the punishment of the murderers up to a life sentence. True, there was a major revision in the penal code to tune it with EU regulations and expectations. But it is not enough. It will not be enough until we, that is WE as an entire society, manage to question and challenge the very concept of “honor” that is deeply rooted and pervasive in our culture and norms.

  Above and beyond, the new legislation is flawed by the usage of one additional condition. It contains a provision that clearly makes it possible to reduce the punishment and moderate the life sentences for honor killings if the executioner can prove that he was provoked. Therein lies the rub. The courts will use this provision to reduce sentences while future murderers will keep relying on its existence. After all, in a country deeply shaped by patriarchal precedents, a country where young women are generally seen as “seducers” and “provokers” or at best as “potential troublemakers,” it is not that grueling for a Turkish man to prove in court that he, in all his mortality and manhood, has been provoked to perpetrate the crime. If the government is serious about fighting honor crimes, this murky messy provision should be totally abolished. Instead, Turkish men should learn not to be provoked so easily.

  They say Yasemin brought disgrace and dishonor to her family. I say any family incapable of loving and protecting their daughter is a walking disgrace and dishonor itself. They say Yasemin was a shame to her community. I say a family like hers, a community like hers, a country like hers does not deserve the beauty and purity that Yasemin was.