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Bulletin - 10 March 2010
Date:      Wed, March 10, 2010 11:00 am

http://www.rationalistinternational.net

Turkey: Buried Alive for Her Family's Honor

Medine Memi was 16 years when a family council convicted her to death
in November 2009. They dug a two meter deep hole under the chicken
coop at their house and forced Medine, her hands tied on her back, to
sit in it. Then they buried her alive, throwing one spadeful of earth
after the other down on her, till she was completely covered and the
hole filled. Medine was not drugged, she died in full consciousness.
She tried to scream and struggled for air. Soil filled her mouth,
entered her windpipe, her gullet, her lungs and her stomach. She died
a slow and gruesome death.

There is nothing left in memory of Medine’s short life, not
even a photograph of hers existence. It is as if she never lived. One
of ten children, she was born in Kahata in the province Adiyaman in
south east Turkey and never left this place. She was not allowed to
go to school. Her father and grandfather used to brutally beat her up
when they suspected her to talk to village boys of her age. During her
last weeks, Medine feared for her life. She sought help in the police
station. She tried to lodge a complaint against father and
grandfather. She begged for protection and asylum. But she was forced
to go back to her tormentors. This repeated three times; after that
she was not seen again. In December, a neighbor got suspicious. The
authorities opened the newly cemented place under the chicken coop
and found Medine’s body. They arrested her father and
grandfather, but did not charge them so far.

The gruesome murder of Medine is no single case. 'Honor killings'
have reached record levels in Turkey. Official government figures
confirm more than 200 cases every year, half of all murders committed
in the country. The estimates of human rights groups are far higher.
Investigations are generally difficult; many of these murders remain
family secrets. In the Kurdish dominated south east of Turkey, the
region of Medine’s home province Adiyaman, the concentration of
‘honor killings’ is the highest. Decades back, Adiyaman
has been a stronghold of the Islamic fundamentalist Naksibendi sect
that was banned in 1925 by the founder of modern Turkey, Ataturk, but
seems to gain new ground in recent years.

In 2005, with the reform of the Turkish Penal Code, life sentences
for ‘honor killers’ have become mandatory. Earlier they
often escaped with reduced sentences, if any, claiming they have been
“provoked”. Even now, many ‘honor killers’
benefit from improper investigations and leniency of the authorities,
as many police officers, prosecutors and even judges share their
views. Even in prison, they still use to enjoy high respect and
privileges. As a strategy, many family councils order the youngest
male member to commit the murder, taking advantage of juvenile law.
The government’s recent efforts to take harder legal action
have resulted in a new twist: while the number of ‘honor
killings’ seems to go down, a wave of ‘honor
suicides’ can be observed. To escape legal prosecution,
families force their victims to kill themselves.

‘Honor killings’ are committed in many countries around
the world. According to UN estimates, there are more than 5000 cases
every year. But that may be only the tip of the iceberg. While the
majority of them seems to have a fundamentalist Islamic background,
similar barbaric traditions are active among Hindus, Sikhs and
Christians (for example in Sicily).




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RATIONALIST INTERNATIONAL
 President: Sanal Edamaruku

 Honorary Associates:

Dr. Pieter Admiraal (The Netherlands), Prof. Mike Archer (Australia),
Katsuaki Asai (Japan), Jocelyn Bézecourt (France), Prof. Colin
Blakemore (UK), Dr. Bill Cooke (New Zealand), Dr. Helena Cronin (UK),
Prof. Richard Dawkins (UK), Jan Loeb Eisler (USA), Pekka Elo
(Finland), Prof. Antony Flew (UK), Tom Flynn (USA), Jim Herrick (UK),
Christopher Hitchens (USA), Ellen Johnson (USA), Prof. Paul Kurtz
(USA), Lavanam (India), Dr. Richard Leakey (Kenya), Iain Middleton
(New Zealand), Dr. Henry Morgentaler (Canada), Maryam Namazie (Iran),
Dr. Taslima Nasreen (Bangladesh), Steinar Nilsen (Norway), Prof.
Jean-Claude Pecker (France), James Randi (USA), Prof. Ajoy Roy
(Bangladesh), Dr. Younus Shaikh (Pakistan), Barbara Smoker (UK),
Richard Stallman (USA), Prof. Rob Tielman (The Netherlands), David
Tribe (Australia), K Veeramani (India), Bary Williams (Australia),
Prof. Richard Wiseman (UK), Prof. Lewis Wolpert (UK). Deceased: Sir
Hermann Bondi (UK), Prof. Vern Bullough (USA), Joseph Edamaruku
(India), Dr. G N Jyoti Shankar (USA).
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