"Honour crimes" are extremely frequent in the East and South-East of Turkey. They are traditional in the whole Mediterranean area as they are in the Near East and extend as far as Asia and Africa. So what are "honour crimes"? Girls who have lost their virginity must reckon with being killed by their families. A love affair is just as deadly as rape or sexual abuse, even by a family member. In such cases, the offender redresses the family honour by killing the person who has been abused. The woman is under the same threat if she escapes from a marriage with an unloved man or flees from a marriage arranged by the family, even if she is not involved with another man.

The exact number of honour murders remains unknown, since many crimes are camouflaged as accidents. In the town of Urfa in Turkey in the last five years alone, the number of known honour killings is numbered at 26. In Pakistan hundreds of women are injured or killed each year by male relations as a result of apparently illegitimate sexual relations. The girls, if they have run away, are tracked down and killed - stabbed, shot or drenched in petrol and set alight, drowned, run over (by male family members) or poisoned (by their mother or mother in law). Being banished from the family seldom suffices. Sometimes "dishonoured" girls are remarried quickly. However if the young woman's "loss of honour" is known of in the new family, she is also threatened with death.

The background: The patriarchal moral makes the honour of the family dependent on the virginity of the girl or the chastity of the married women. Whether the virginity was lost in free will or as a result of violence is of no consequence here. If the "dishonour" becomes known to outside persons, perhaps due to a pregnancy, the death of the woman concerned is the only way of reinstalling the family honour. The woman affected usually cannot expect any help from members of the family, since they must and want to maintain the honour of the family. "Dishonouring" the family by a daughter can also ruin the chances of her sisters getting married.

In South Anatolia, for instance, two thirds of all marriages are still arranged by the family. Important for the prestige of the family here is bride money. This is too high for many young men and they must reckon with having to save for years to afford the marriage. The girls are condemned to marrying older, unloved men. Which is the reason why many young couples run away to the cities.

What is Being Done Against Honour Murders? Murders to reinstall the family honour are against the law in Turkey. However the threat of a prison sentence is often preferred to allowing the family to remain in dishonour. Frequently the family council orders an underage member of the family, perhaps a brother, to carry out the killing in order to avoid punishment. But also condemned offenders can reckon with mild punishment. The only way of avoiding a sure death for the woman is to run away. However up until now no clear legal provisions exist which make asylum possible for such women. Girl and women immigrants to Europe are also threatened, particularly when they want access to the rights they see accorded to European women.