"Honor killing" in Istanbul

Haven't seen much mention of this in the American press as yet; it's been front-page news in Turkey:

A young Turkish woman who had a child out of wedlock was murdered in hospital by her two brothers yesterday, the victim of an “honour killing” that has shocked the nation.

Guldunya Toren, 22, had survived a previous attack by the brothers, who left her for dead in an Istanbul street. She was taken to hospital, then secretly transferred to a second hospital where she was supposedly under police protection.

But witnesses said that her brothers, aged 24 and 20, were allowed to enter her room, where they finished their task to cleanse the family’s “honour” with two bullets to her head. They escaped on foot.

Just hours before her death Ms Toren gave an interview from her hospital bed, hoping that publicity would force the police and local authorities to protect her. . .

Urban Turks read with horror the headlines such as those splashed across yesterday’s papers, but in the more impoverished, tribal communities opinions are very different. Last June, an unmarried pregnant woman was stoned to death by relatives in Mardin province, in the southeast. In November, a boy of 16 killed his pregnant sister, aged 15, in Diyarbakir, also in the southeast. Families often call on male relatives under the age of 18 to carry out a killing, so that they may benefit from reduced sentences. . .

As Milliyet newspaper put it in a front-page headline: “Who is Gul’s murderer? The family that decided on the execution? The police who failed to protect her? Or the law that tolerates honour killings?”

Posted by David on February 28, 2004 5:50 PM