Girl strangled in 'honor' killing

Turkey struggles to halt practice

May 01, 2004|Associated Press

ANKARA, Turkey -- Ignoring the pleas of his 14-year-old daughter to spare her life, Mehmet Halitogullari pulled on a wire wrapped around her neck and strangled her -- supposedly to restore the family's honor after she was kidnapped and raped.

Nuran Halitogullari, buried Thursday in a ceremony attended by women's rights advocates, is the latest victim in a long history of "honor" killings, which Turkey's government is struggling to end.

Each year, dozens of girls are killed in Turkey by their relatives for allegedly disgracing their families -- some for merely being seen speaking to men. The practice is especially common in the more traditional southeast and among families who have migrated to big cities from the region.

Honor killings also occur in Pakistan and some countries of the Middle East and among immigrant families in EU countries like Britain and Sweden. The European Union, which Turkey aspires to join, is pressing the country to take steps to stop a practice it says is a violation of women's rights.

Parliament voted last year to raise the punishment to up to 24 years in prison. But a loophole in the laws allows relatives to escape with sentences as light as eight years if they can prove they were "provoked" into committing the crime. European countries want Turkey to ensure that relatives cannot benefit from the loophole.