Honor Killings in the Twenty-First Century

224 Pages·2012·1.277 MB·English

by  Nicole Pope (auth.)

Honor Killings in the Twenty-First
Century
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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
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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
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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