Purified by Blood: Honour Killings Amongst Turks in the Netherlands

304 Pages·2003·3.893 MB·English

by  Clementine van Eck

Clementine van Eck C Clementine van Eck
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Purified by Blood e
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Honour Killings amongst Turks ti
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in the Netherlands v
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Honour killings are murders that are carried out to purify
tarnished honour, the honour in question being namus. Both
u
men and women possess namus. For women and girls,
namus means chastity, while for men it means having chaste r
female family members. Honour killing is a widely known i
f
phenomenon in Turkey, where the Hürriyetnewspaper reports
i
an average of six such killings a month. As a result of migra-
e
tion since the 1960s and 1970s, we also encounter it in
Western Europe (the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, d
Sweden and Denmark). This study examines in detail 20 cases

of honour killing by Turks in the Netherlands. Particular atten-
b
tion is given to the social factors that play a role in the
decision to commit an honour killing. y

Clementine van Eck studied Cultural anthropology and Turkish B
language and literature. She now teaches courses on honour
killing and intercultural communication to the police. l
o
o Purified by Blood
d
ISBN 90 5356 491 8
Honour Killings amongst Turks
in the Netherlands
                                         
A U P A U P
Purified by Blood

Purified by Blood
Honour Killings amongst Turks in the
Netherlands
Clementine van Eck
Amsterdam University Press
For G.J. van Eck (1919-1975)
Cover design: Sabine Mannel/nap, Amsterdam
Lay-out:japes, Amsterdam
isbn90 5356 491 8
nur747/761
© Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam, 2003
Allrightsreserved.Withoutlimitingtherightsundercopyrightreservedabove,no
partofthisbookmaybereproduced,storedinorintroducedintoaretrievalsystem,
ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans(electronic,mechanical,photocopying,
recordingorotherwise)withoutthewrittenpermissionofboththecopyrightowner
and the author of the book.
Table of contents
Preface 7
Introduction 9
1. Honour and honour killing 15
1.1. Two types of honour:namusandșeref 15
1.2. Honour killing and blood revenge 32
1.3. Turkish jurisprudence and honour killing 34
1.4. Islam and honour killing 37
1.5. Honour killing in the Netherlands 39
2. The victim 43
2.1. Who is the victim? 43
2.2. Rape claims 49
2.3. Honour killing of newborn babies 51
2.4. Honour killing of a member of the honour violator’s family 52
2.5. Multiple honour killings 55
2.6. Honour killing of an implicated third party 56
2.7. The wrong person is killed 59
2.8. Failed honour killing 60
2.9. The funeral 64
2.10. Protests against honour killing 67
3. The honour killer 73
3.1. Honour killing as a ritual 73
3.2. Planning: accomplices 78
3.3. The honour killer has motives of his own 88
3.4. Female honour killers 89
3.5. Hired assassins 91
3.6. Disguised honour killing 93
3.7. Dutch jurisprudence and honour killing 95
4. Marriage and elopement 99
4.1. The rejected marriage proposal 100
4.2. Elopement 104
5
4.3. Honour killing following an elopement 118
4.4. The girl is killed 122
5. More case studies 129
5.1. Authority over the children 129
5.2. Incitement to murder 132
5.3. A crime of passion 137
5.4. Sexual insults 142
5.5. Pathological honour killing 146
5.6. Murder/manslaughter for reasons of male pride 151
6. Alternatives to honour killing 157
6.1. No more responsibility for the woman 158
6.2. No action 164
6.3. Minimum response 167
6.4. Withdrawal 172
6.5. Calling in the authorities 173
6.6. Injuring thenamusof the honour violator 182
7. Why an honour killing? 183
7.1. Pressure from the Turkish community 185
7.2. Objectives other than honour purification 193
7.3. Provocation 197
7.4. Circumstances of the honour killer or accomplice 199
7.5. Honour killing following an elopement 202
7.6. Honour killing within the family 204
7.7. Other contributing factors 209
7.8. The situation of immigrants 211
Conclusion 221
Appendix I. More case studies from the court records 223
Appendix II. Case studies from Bitlis province 237
AppendixIII.TheTurkishCriminalCode(TCK)andhonourkilling 241
Notes 245
Literature 289
Index 301
6
Preface
When I graduated from the Catholic University Nijmegen as a cul-
tural anthropologist and embarked on Turkish Studies at Leiden
University,mylecturersDickKoopmanandAneNautadrewmyat-
tention to the topic, ‘honour killings among Turks in the Nether-
lands’. They assumed – quite correctly – that the subject would
interest me as a cultural anthropologist. It is an area in which they
had been working since the 1970s, following regular approaches
fromthecourtsandthepolicewithrequestsforinformation.Iwould
liketothankthemforbringingthesubjecttomynotice.Iespecially
wish to thank Ane Nauta, with whom I had various discussions –
duringmyTurkishstudies–abouthonourkillingcasesonwhichhe
had been asked to give his opinion as an expert witness.
Unfortunately,itwasnotpossiblewithintheTurkishDepartment
todevoteathesistohonourkillings,butin1995Ihadanopportunity
toresearchthistopicattheAmsterdamSchoolforSocialScienceRe-
search, Amsterdam University. This is one of the few research
schoolsintheNetherlandsthatallowsyoutowriteyourdoctoralthe-
sisonasubjectofyourownchoice.AntonBlokofAmsterdamUni-
versityandHenkDriessenoftheCatholicUniversityNijmegenwere
excellentsupervisors.Inaddition,membersofthedoctoralstudents’
anthropology group (the ‘anthropology club’) at the Amsterdam
School for Social Science Research provided me with useful feed-
back.IalsowishtothankJohanGoudsblomforhelpingtoassessmy
interim papers. Matthijs van den Bos, Frank Bovenkerk, Lenie
Brouwer,MartinvanBruinessen,LéonBuskens,RemcoEnsel,Dick
Koopman, Cees Maris, Ruud Peters, Wibo van Rossum, Hermine
Wiersinga and Erik-Jan Zürcher all provided me with useful com-
mentary. Aspha Bijnaar, Mieke Komen and Geertje van Os helped
not just with matters of substance, but gave me moral support as
well.IwouldliketothankthelibrariansattheUniversityLibraryin
Leiden,whowerealwayshappytoconductliteraturesearchesforme.
IwishtoextendmygratitudetoanumberofpeopleinTurkey:the
late Osman Badrasl1, for providing me with the Bitlis case studies
(see appendix II); his daughter Övgü, who trained as a librarian in
7
Ankara,fortrackingdownTurkishliteratureonhonourandhonour
killings; and both Judge Muzaffer Cebesoy and Public Prosecutor
Zekeriya Sevimli in Ankara, for explaining Turkish law relating to
honourkillings.Furthermore,IwouldliketothankNeslihanSümer,
aTurkishanthropologistattheUniversityofAnkara,whowroteher
doctoralthesisonfemalemurderersinTurkeyandwithwhomIwas
able to discuss various aspects of honour killings.
My thanks also go to Pitstra of the Central Judicial Archives in
Almelo for a list of all instances of murder and manslaughter com-
mittedintheNetherlandsbypeopleborninTurkey.Fromthislist,I
wasabletotracevariouscasesofhonourkillings.Informationrelat-
ingtothepoliceandthecourts,IobtainedfromFrankKornaat,Arno
Bijl, and others who prefer not to be named. I am very grateful to
NewZealander,AnnetteVisser,forherwillingnesstomakesuchan
excellent English translation of my Dutch text.
Itisnoeasytaskconductingresearchifyouhavetwoyoungchil-
dren. I am therefore very grateful to my parents-in-law, who often
cameoverfromAnkaratohelpus.Inaddition,Iwouldliketothank
Judithforallherhardwork.Iowemymothergratitudeforhersup-
port.Iamindebtedtomyhusband,Bahad1r,forhishelpandhispa-
tience. I dedicate this thesis to my father who, in his capacity as a
social worker at a caravan camp in Emmen, can rightfully be called
an anthropologistavant la lettre.
8
Introduction
ThisstudylooksathonourkillingscommittedbyTurksintheNeth-
erlands.1 Honour killings are murders that are carried out to purify
tarnishedhonour,thehonourinquestionbeingnamus.2Bothmen
and women possess namus. For women and girls, namus means
chastity,whileformenitmeanshavingchastefemalefamilymem-
bers.Amanisthereforedependentforhisnamusontheconductof
the womenfolk in his family. This means in effect that women and
girlsmustnothaveillicitcontactwithamemberoftheoppositesex
and must avoid becoming the subject of gossip, since gossip alone
can impugn namus. Girls must adhere to the namus code of behav-
iour,whichdiffersfromregiontoregion.Ingeneral,itwouldbetrue
to say that rules governing conduct are more stringent in the coun-
trysidethanincities,inEasternthaninWesternTurkeyandinland
thanonthecoast.ThroughoutTurkey,however,withtheexception
of the modern urban élite in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, a young
womanisexpectedtobeavirginonherweddingnightandthereafter
to remain sexually faithful to her husband.
Alongside geographical differences with regard to namus, there
are changes over time. Attitudes towards namus were more rigid in
thepastthantheyarenow(thisisillustratedclearlyinMeyro,acollec-
tionofstoriesbyNecatiHaksun).Itisnotmyintentiontoexamine
theconceptofnamusandattitudestowardhonourkillingsinearlier
times,butweshouldbeawarethatideasaboutnamushavechanged
over time and will continue to do so.
Honourkillingoriginatedinthecountrysidebut,asaresultofmi-
gration since the 1960s and 1970s, we also encounter it in Turkish
citiesandinWesternEurope(theNetherlands,Belgium,Germany,
France,Denmarkandsweden).Insofaraswecanascertain,honour
killingsonlyoccuramongstpeopleofruraloriginandtheirchildren.
MorehighlyeducatedurbanTurksdonotregardhonourkillingasa
meansbywhichtopurifytheirnamus.3Forthisreason,Ihavenotin-
cludedthisgroupinmystudy.Instead,Iexaminethecultureofrural
Turkey, which may live on among villagers who have moved to the
city.
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