‘EVERYBODY HAS A RESPOSIBILITY FOR THE ERADICATION OF MURDERS IN THE NAME OF HONOR’

(November 22, 2005) – UNFPA, United Nations
Population Fund and UNDP, United Nations Developmet Programme launched the
“The Dynamics of Honor Killings in Turkey: Prospects for Action” Report on
the most shameful type of violence against women, honor killings. The
research was conducted by the Population Association of Turkey. The report
was prepared with the idea of analyzing the social structures, life syles
and the mentality structures behind these actions to develop policies to
eradicate violence against women including honor killings. The report
lights the way for the social structure and understanding behind the
notion of honor and honor killings.

“Honor is the reason for our living now. That means we
live for the cause of honor now. I don’t know, but without honor life has
no meaning… It is okay if you don’t have money, but you must have dignity.
(Þanlýurfa, from a group interview with male university students, age
19-22)

This quotation, highlighting the importance of “honor”
within society, is taken from a report prepared by the Population
Assocation of Turkey and supported by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and
the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The research was
conducted in four cities-Istanbul, Sanliurfa, Batman, and Adana-with 194
group interviews through group interviews with a cross-section of society:
youth; public officials including teachers police officers; lawyers; media
and NGOs. The findings brought up the perception of honor within society,
the factors and actions that constitute this perception; and the meaning
of “dishonorable” conduct. The report also cites the reasons behind the
honor killings: 1) socio-economic deprivations and underdevelopment; 2)
patriarchal relations as a consequence of men establishing control over
women; 3) role of the family within the society and how people raise their
children; 4) social pressures which render men helpless; and 5) personal
factors.

The analysis of these findings point to four key messages
that may shape recommendations for future action for Turkey to reduce
honor killings within society.

· While honor exists as an important concept within
society, honor itself should be de-linked from acts of crime and
violence
· The younger generation are actually more accepting and
supportive of killing in the name of honor than their elders. This finding
is reinforced by recent findings that %63 of the young women aged 15-19
expect to be beaten as part of their married life. These two findings show
that the young generation needs to be trained profoundly for combating
violence against women.
· Some public officials actually contribute to
honor killings by create an environment and a set of attitudes in which
killing in the name of honor is tolerated within society despite its
violation of a women’s ultimate freedom and rights.
· At the same time,
there are signs of hope as some public officials actively work through
initiatives and policies to eradicate the notion of “honor killings” as
acceptable within Turkish society.

According to the research, in spite of different
perceptions among people, the strongest tendency in all cities is to
consider honor as a woman, her body, sexuality and the control of women.
Honor is mainly related with women, sexual relations between men and
women, girls’ chastity and marital infidelity. This is usually how it is
formulated by men and some of the women in more traditional circles and
some professionals. Within this context, honor is the wife, that is, the
‘lawful wife’, the sister or the mother of a man, the other women in the
family and even women in his immediate environment. A man is obliged to
keep a “protective eye” on all these women. Such an understanding expends
the men’s responsibility and increases the pressure on women.

The findings of this research also shows that in the
society there are different perceptions of how honor related murders,
forms of differentiating honor / custom related murders and reasons for
the commission of murder in the name of honor. According to the research
another important finding is that people tend to differentiate between
murders committed with the motive of honor and those committed as a result
of family council decision or so-called custom related killings. On the
other hand, people in places where such events were experienced more
frequently, especially those who were involved in or closely witnessed
such events, did not differentiate between honor related murders based on
customs and others. In the report what emphasized was the understanding of
honor underlying these events. They used expressions such as ‘it doesn’t
matter whether it is honor or custom related, they are both the same
anyway, they both mean honor’.

The report suggests several recommendations to address and
eradicate honor killings. This report raises the need to have a social
agreement to eradicate honor killings. It seems that the initial phase of
the social agreement should be actions to be taken for breaking the chain
of hopelessness and helplessness for preventing such events. Statements by
many people and organizations that are sensitive in this subject and
consider themselves to own the problem are crucial in order to eliminate
the atmosphere of hopelessness and helplessness. The examples in the
report shows that sometimes only one individual’s action can make
significant difference.

As it was stated in the report, the democtatic
institutions of Turkey should be fully committed to the rule of law and
universal principles of freedom and equality for protecting and promoting
the rights of women and girls. To eradicate the mentality behind the honor
killings, state must introduce a ZERO TOLERANCE policy which should be
supported by all the social institutions including all state employees
(such as teachers, policemen, religious leaders, legislators, prosecuters,
judges etc…), NGOs, community leaders, families, education system and the
media.

In the report there are examples of public officials who
are committed to actively protect the rights and fundemental freedoms of
citizens, as well as examples of publis officials who support beliefs and
promote honor killings which is the extreme violation of women’s human
rights.

“Why should a person work? Why should he live anyway? This
is first for his honor and second for daily bread. If a person has hunger,
he can eat something small and feel satisfied. However, if one loses his
honor, there is nothing to be done, no return…what is honor? It is your
wife. [The word used here is ‘helalin’, meaning someone over whom you have
a right; someone permissible for you] (Istanbul, male, age 25, police
officer)

“We helped her to be sent to a hostel. She went to a
hostel in Ankara afterwards. They make them go from one hostel to another
in order to make the family lose her track. After a certain time, if the
girl wants she can leave the hostel.” (Þanlýurfa, male, indeterminate age,
police officer)

The report proposes below mentioned actions to develop a
zero tolerence policy; (1) Establishing shelters, station services and
hotlines to protect the women and girls in danger; (2) Training state
employees in gender equality and the social and personal ill effects of
honor crimes; (3) Restructuring the national education system to promote
gender equality; (4) Training young people, men, women, NGO activists,
related professionals on honour killings; (5) Establishing local
“discussion centers”, especially for families; (6) Working with religious
leaders and community leaders; (6) Empowering women and girls through
education, training and social activities; (7) Working as a pressure group
for the implementation of the recent legal changes.

According to
the report media has critical role; the media, and particularly local
media, should: have an informative, critical and transformative role in
raising public awareness; provide people with accurate information about
both NGOs and other organizations; try to show that violence and murder
for the sake of honor violates human rights through the use of social
leaders, religious officers, people liked and respected by that society
and popular people from the world of science, the arts and sports;
introduce good examples in the fight against violence, including training
and NGO activities.

Please contact with below mentioned names to get more
information or a copy of the report

A session was held with the
“Parliamentary Investigative Commission on Customs/Honor Killings and
Violence Against Women and Children” to share the results of the report on
the 15th of November 2005.