Sunday, December 3, 2006

I ask myself, Can tradition commit murder? By using such statements, we are creating an imaginary being called tradition. It seems like this being is giving the orders and people have no choice but to obey. Tradition is like an ugly monster. Against it, no one has any will or choice.

Elif Şafak

  A headline in a newspaper, “Tradition took another life!”

  A photograph of a young girl under the report. A smile that has gone forever. How many women in Turkey are “inspected” by their fathers, brothers or husbands? And how many of them are abused, murdered or forced to commit suicide if they don t accede to this incessant inspection?

  This controversial matter is taking up more space in the media than before and this has made some ask the question, “I wonder if the number of such cases is increasing?” I personally believe there is not an increase in the number of cases, but in awareness of them. I believe we, the rest of society, have woken up to the fact that there is an “honor killings” reality in our country. Incidents that in the past remained hidden can no longer be covered up. Everyone hears and talks about them. While this is a positive development by itself, we still haven t begun to debate the most important matter of them all: our perception of honor.

  Professor Aytekin Sır of Dicle University s Psychiatry Department, in a study asked people from Kurd-Zaza-Arab and Alevi villages and cities, “What is honor?” 32.9 percent responded, “My wife, sister, mother and family.” When asked about the duty of men in this context, 70 percent said, “protection” and 13.9 percent said, “inspecting them.” This mentality is based on the belief that women are beings that can commit a mistake, or take the wrong path, at any minute of any day. They have no will or personality. They need to be kept under constant supervision so that they don t make mistakes.

  I ask myself, “Can tradition commit murder?” By using such statements, we are creating an imaginary being called “tradition.” It seems like this being is giving the orders and people have no choice but to obey. Tradition is like an ugly monster. Against it, no one has any will or choice. However, it is people who take the lives of our women, not a being called tradition. They are the closest relatives of the victims. They are the ones who identify the crime and define the punishment. Moreover the word “tradition” implies a specific ethnicity, more openly, Kurds. However, this is not a “Kurdish affair.” This is not a problem faced solely by Kurdish women. It involves all of us. This is why it is wrong to link these murders to tradition. We must call them “honor killings” or “murders and attacks committed under the guise of honor.”I have two reports from women s support group KAMER, dated 2004 and 2005. I am reading the analyses of a courageous woman who enlightens all women in need, despite the obstacles in her way, Nebahat Akkoç. In a campaign the British Council and KAMER initiated, they aim to increase awareness among women of violence and to help those in need. As both Akkoç and KAMER stress, there are many women in Turkey who face serious pressure from their relatives. Centers should be founded to which these women can apply with their children in their hour of need. Around the clock telephone hotlines need to be established. More importantly, we, the rest of the society, need to see the fact that the murders committed under the guise of honor are not a matter of interest only among the fringes of the society, but involve us all. What we need is a mental revolution. We need to transform our way of thinking. If there is anyone who should be inspected it should not be our girls or women, but our minds.