Honor Killings in the Twenty-First Century PDF
Preview Honor Killings in the Twenty-First Century
Honor Killings in the Twenty-First Century This page intentionally left blank Honor Killings in the Twenty-First Century Nicole Pope HONORKILLINGSINTHETWENTY-FIRSTCENTURY Copyright©NicolePope,2012. Softcoverreprintofthehardcover1stedition2012978-0-230-33978-1 Allrightsreserved. Firstpublishedin2012by PALGRAVEMACMILLAN® intheUnitedStates—adivisionofSt.Martin’sPressLLC, 175FifthAvenue,NewYork,NY10010. WherethisbookisdistributedintheUK,Europeandtherestofthe World,thisisbyPalgraveMacmillan,adivisionofMacmillan PublishersLimited,registeredinEngland,companynumber785998, ofHoundmills,Basingstoke,HampshireRG216XS. PalgraveMacmillanistheglobalacademicimprintoftheabove companiesandhascompaniesandrepresentativesthroughoutthe world. Palgrave®andMacmillan®areregisteredtrademarksintheUnited States,theUnitedKingdom,Europeandothercountries. ISBN978-1-349-34228-0 ISBN978-1-137-01266-1(eBook) DOI10.1057/9781137012661 LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Pope,Nicole. Honorkillingsinthetwenty-firstcentury/NicolePope. p. cm. Includesbibliographicalreferences. 1. Women—Violenceagainst. 2. Honorkillings. 3. Honorkillings—Casestudies. 4. Women’srights. 5. Honor—Socialaspects. I. Title. HV6250.4.W65P6352011 306.87—dc23 2011024737 AcataloguerecordofthebookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. DesignbyIntegraSoftwareServices Firstedition:January2012 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 TomydaughtersVanessaandAmanda AndtomyparentsPierreandLisiBernet This page intentionally left blank Contents Preface ix Acknowledgments xiii 1 Rojin 1 2 HonorandShame 17 3 Pınar 31 4 BornUnequal 39 5 Nasreen 53 6 HarmfulPractices 59 7 Zahida 71 8 CruelandUnusual 77 9 S¸emse 87 10 Perpetrators 95 11 Berfin 111 12 Religion,TraditionandPatriarchy 119 13 Heshu 133 14 OldTraditions,ModernContext 149 15 Samia 161 16 LegalMatters 167 17 Güldünya 189 18 FatmaandFatih 195 Conclusion 205 Notes 211 Bibliography 219 Index 221 This page intentionally left blank Preface IbegtheancientprivilegeofAthens, Assheismine,Imaydisposeofher: Whichshallbeeithertothisgentleman Ortoherdeath,accordingtoourlaw Immediately provided in that case. Egeus,fatherofHermia ActI,SceneI AMidsummerNight’sDream, byWilliamShakespeare When I set out to write about “honor” killings, I had no idea that Iwouldembarkonanemotionaljourneythatwouldlastadecadeand wouldprovechallenging,professionallyandpersonally. Ihadafairlysimple—simplistic,itturnedout—ideainmind.Ihad spent more than 20 years in the Middle East and in Turkey. In the courseofmyworkasajournalist,Ihadstumbleduponcasesofmur- ders committed in the name of honor. Like most people who hear about these crimes, I was appalled and moved by the deaths of inno- cent young women. But I was also intrigued and wanted to find out moreaboutthecircumstancesthatledtotheirdeaths.Theindividual stories described in news reports suggested that entire communities wereinvolved. Istruggledwiththeideathatanattachmenttoanunwrittensocial codecouldbepowerfulenoughtooverridehumaninstinctandpush parentstokillthechildrentheyhadbroughtintotheworld.Iwanted to examine the social mechanisms that could drive them to such extremesandfindoutwhatwentoninthemindsofperpetrators. I started by looking at specific cases of what I thought of as “text- book honor killings.” The pattern, it then seemed to me, was quite clear:ayoungwomanisperceivedtohavetarnishedthefamilyhonor, herrelativesgathertodecideherfate,andonefamilymemberisgiven themandatetokillher. But I soon realized that a blanket of “honor” was thrown over a much broader variety of crimes and abuses, and that cases of honor
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