23-year-old Yildiz A. was stabbed in the stomach six or seven times and her nose and ears and part of her lip cut off, then she was dumped in a field on the road between Boyalan and Taskesen villages. She managed to crawl to the road and was spotted by a minibus driver who took her to the hospital where she is in intensive care. According to the newspapers, Yildiz A. was married and accused of having a relationship with another man, so a “family council” was called and it was decided to kill her to “cleanse the family’s honor”. (click here for the article in Turkish) The savagery of this particular attack stands out — I had heard of such mutilations in Pakistan, but not in Turkey. On the other hand, Ayse Onal’s excellent book Honor Killing, in which she interviews the men in jail who had carried out “honor” killings, gives other incredibly brutal examples. The one that sticks in my mind is running the girl over with a tractor so it looked like an accident. Is the gratuitous brutality level increasing? Or are we just now starting to hear about it? If you believe in this code, it is sufficient to kill the person to “cleanse” honor, but there appears to be lots of room for torture and revenge. What’s that word I keep using? Insafsiz.
UPDATE: The woman’s husband, Bayram A., ran away, but was soon arrested. Their two children are with the family, although will be taken under “protection”. Bayram A. had gone off to work in construction in Izmir. His relatives accused his wife of having a secret relationship with one of her relatives while her husband was gone. The husband’s relatives called on Bayram A. to return, and held a “family council” that made a “kill” decision. Hearing of this, the young woman, Yildiz A., went to the security forces (probably the gendarmerie) to ask for protection. They took her under their protection and arranged to send her to the nearby town of Agri, but her husband convinced them that his wife was slandering him. The security forces returned Yildiz A. to her husband. (This, to me, is a major point. WHY?) He then took her to the family where she was tortured and left for dead. (click here for Turkish update article)
Will there be any repercussions for the security forces so that this won’t happen again? Do the security forces that gave her back to the man she said was going to kill her feel any sense of besmirched honor, any shame? They should. I hope they at least have a guard stationed outside her room at the hospital.
UPDATE May 21:
Local villagers and Yildiz A.’s own family members told journalists that they thought her husband’s family’s decision to torture and murder Yildiz A. was correct because “she deserved it” and needed to be taught “a lesson”. “If you don’t teach a lesson, everyone will do it.” A women’s organization is taking charge of Yildiz A., since no one from her own family is doing so. (click here, in Turkish)
http://www.kamilpasha.com/2009/05/16/another-dishonorable-murder-attempt/Remember, you don't need to prove anything. All a man has to do is point his finger and make an accusation and that's good enough reason to stab a woman six time, cut her nose, ears and lips and leave her in a ditch. Great lesson taught there!
Why should Turkey be admitted to the EU again? It's pretty clear that they don't meet any of the human rights requirements.
