Women on the Front Line: Turkey

I know we've talked a lot about honor killing in this class, but it wasn't until watching this movie that I realized how crazy and encourage it really is. When we first read Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery, we related the Bey's anger towards Harbi to honor killing, however when watching this movie, I was say it has nothing to do with that. The basis of honor killing is when the men of the family kill women in their family due to an act that was performed by the woman that dishonored the man. Let me emphasize how THE MEN KILL THE WOMEN! Never the other way around when in regards to honor killing. One story from the movie that really shocked me was how a father killed his one and a half month pregnant daughter and said it was because she had dishonored the family. 40 percent of men in Turkey still support this idea. It's not a myth or folklore; it's a major tragedy that is still occurring to this day. Now men who kill for honor are sentenced to life in jail, however men use to get away with these murders. Yet now the older members of the family will have the boys of the family perform the murders so the punishments will be lighter. Honor suicides are taking place now in replace of honor murders. The rise of suicides doubled from 2006 to 2007. However, disguising the murders as suicides defeat the purpose of honor killings. One thing that the movie mentioned that always surprised me was so they considered the men committing the murders and victims too. The men are under pressure from their society to main the honor of the family, and by killing the women who dishonored them, they are upholding the family name. If the men were not to kill the women, they could ultimately be raped by other members of the village or the men would be shunned. When the women are buried, they don’t receive a proper burial, and cinder blocks are used in replace of head stones. This whole concept blows my mind. Laws has been set in place to minimize these killings, however being that it is a part of the culture, will they ever terminate?