The Hindu : International : Turkey to combat `honour killings'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 06, 2004

International

International

Turkey to combat `honour killings'

Athens: Turkey is poised to introduce mandatory life sentences for those who carry out ``honour killings'', in an effort to combat a crime which has marred its quest to join the E.U. Wide-ranging changes to the penal code will end the current practice of allowing murderers to plead family honour as an extenuating circumstance to justify killings. ``Turkey clearly realises this is an issue that can be used to very good effect by those who are sceptical of Turkish membership of the E.U.,'' said James Ker-Lindsay who runs a regional thinktank. The reform, part of a programme enacted by Ankara's modernising Islamist Government, comes amid widespread revulsion at the alarming growth of honour crimes in the Muslim country. Girls as young as 12 have been stabbed, stoned or bludgeoned to death for conversing with strangers or ``dishonouring'' relatives by being raped. Experts believe that, with many of the murders passed off as suicides, up to 300 take place every year. Most of the killings occur in the Kurdish-populated south-east where females fall victim to customs dating back generations. —

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