CES BRAVES MUZZ
Video: With the Islamists’ Rise to Power, Turkey Became the World’s Leading Hotspot of Honour Killings
11 April 2012
By M. A. Khan
By M. A. Khan
To educated Muslims, honor killing has
nothing to do with Islam and Turkey is the only "role model" Islamic
country, because in all other Muslim countries, honor killing occurs.
Unfortunately, after the Islamists came to power in 2002 and opened the
gates of gradual Islamization of Turkey, after 8 decades of strict
secular rule, Turkey has risen to be the world's "number one honor
killing country", with a killing rate 5 times higher than that of
Pakistan, known to be notorious for honor killing.
The Quran and hadiths prohibit adultery,
apostasy, fornication, and homosexuality etc. And Muslim societies,
since the days of Prophet Muhammad, have punished such offenders,
normally by killing them, in perfect harmony with sanctions of the
Quran, Sunnah and the Sharia.
In civilized societies, these are not
deemed crimes, because those actions do not directly harm another
person, whatsoever. The rationale for punishing such offenders in Muslim
societies (and in some others) has been that adultery brings shame to
the husband and to the offender’s family; apostasy from Islam insults to
the Islamic faith or to the Muslim community; etc. And to wipe out such
shame and insult, the offenders are killed, generally by family members
– frequently the father, brothers and husband, with the mother and
sisters often joining in.
Stoning to death, lashing (which frequently leads to death), shooting to death and mob-lynching
are common methods of honor violence. The victims are even buried alive
in some cases. In countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh,
those targeted for honor violence by husbands and jilted male lovers are
frequently burned and disfigured by throwing acids at them.
With Muslim immigrants, the tradition of
killing such offenders also came to the West. Muslim immigrants have
committed such extra-judicially killings in countries of Europe,
America, Canada, and Australia in recent years. Authorities in Western
countries have long ignored such killings, which Muslim communities have
often passed on as suicides. As the Muslim populations swelled in the
West with increasing religiosity, frequency of such extra-judicial
killings in Muslim communities also increased to such an extent that
authorities could not ignore those killings any more. And adamant
against linking any negativity to the religion of Islam, they coined the
term "honor killing" to classify this brand of grievous crimes as
something cultural.
Islamic countries, under pressure to
observe the rule of law and human rights of their citizens from the UN
and Western countries in recent decades, also cannot pass on such
extra-judicial killings as a part of their religious affair or as their
societal norm any more. So, Human Rights Organizations, more watchful
than ever of the violations of human rights around the world, also
record and classify these extra-judicial murders as honor killing.
Honor killing doesn’t occur in Islamic
societies alone. Some 15,000 individuals, mostly women, are honor-killed
worldwide every year. And nearly 90% of them occur in Muslim
communities. Since Muslims constitute about 20% of the world population,
they are 40-45 times more prone to honor killing than non-Muslims.
Pakistan, Afghanistan, Jordan, Syria,
and other Arab Islamic countries are the leading hotspots of
honor-killings in the Muslim world. Recently disposed dead-bodies of a 15-year-old boy and 12-year-old girl,
burned with acid, were recovered from a wasteland in the Ghazni
province of Afghanistan. The young couple – apparently lovers – were
suspected of being killed in honor violence, because the deeply
religious Afghan society does not approve romantic relationships between
unmarried men and women in consonance with the Quran’s prohibition of
fornication. When this story was posted in islam-watch.org, Muslims
quickly attempted to distance the religion of Islam from the horrible
crime. One reader commented:
"There is nothing like this behavior
that is condoned in Islam and to try and insinuate such is a crime
itself, and shameful. Maybe if the parents did their job bring up their
kids they would not have ventured down that path, but the parents
themselves are obviously disturbed individuals who should be punished by
the law."
See how these deceptive Muslims
contradict nakedly. He claims that Islam doesn’t approve the punishment,
and immediately he says, it’s a punishable crime, but the young
couple’s parents should have been punished, not them. He does not only
contradict himself, he also wants to play God over Allah, who commands
punishment to fornicators themselves, not their parent.
Yet other Muslims, to distance Islam from such barbaric crimes, would say "Afghanistan is hardly the "role model" [Islamic country]."
And if you ask back, which is a "role
model" Islamic country, they will answer: "Turkey", with the addendum:
"Even though it’s secular but Muslim none the less!"
So, Turkey is a “role model” Islamic country, but contradictorily a "secular" one; and no honor killing happens there.
Is that so? Not quite!
In fact, according to the Turkish
Government figures, after the Islamists rose to power in 2002, rate of
honor killings in Turkey increased at alarmingly fast in the deeply
religious segments of the Turkish society, turning Turkey into a leading
country afflicted by honor killings. After the current ruling Islamist
party, the AKP, came to power in 2002, reports Christian Science Monitor
(CSM), honor killings increased "14 folds" over the next 7 years. There
were 66 cases of honor killings in 2002, which rose 953 in the first
seven months of 2009.
In Pakistan, notorious for honor killing, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan recorded 943 cases of such killings in 2011,
and about 100 less in 2010. That means Turkey had about double the
number of honor killings in 2009 as compared the number honor-killed in
Pakistan in 2011. Given Pakistan has a population of 177 million as
compared to Turkey’s 75 million, Turkey has an honor-killing rate, which
is greater than 5 times higher than that of Pakistan. So, undoubtedly,
Turkey is the number one country in the world in terms of total number
of honor killings happening every year, and its honor-killing rate is
also nearly at the top amongst all countries in the world.
A few incidents of honor killing in Turkey
1) Girl, 18, stoned to death along with her unborn child: We have recently published an unreported incident of honor killing
in a remote village in Turkey, described by the victim’s sister. The
victim, 18, fell in love with a boy in the neighborhood and became
pregnant. When she confided the matter with her loving father, hoping he
would arrange for her marriage with the boyfriend. The father, angered
by her shameful action, brought her to the Imam of the local mosque, and
she was stoned to death along with her unborn child as per advice of
the Imam.
2) Girl, 16, buried alive for talking to boys: In December 2010, according to reports by BBC, The Guardian and other news outlets,
a 16-year-old girl in Turkey was buried alive by members of her family
in the family garden for bringing shame by being friendly with boys. Her
hands were tied on her back, and post-mortem found large amount of soil
in her lungs and stomach.
3) Father Shot dead his gay son: According to CNN,
a father, named Yahya, shot dead his 26-year-old son Ahmet Yildiz, a
physics student, in Istanbul, for bringing shame to the family by being a
gay. The killing inspired a movie, named “Zenne”, released in January
this year.
The "Campaign Against Honour Killings In Turkey” Website has a list of real-life honor killing incidents in Turkey:
- 23 year old Rukiye Küçükbirer was killed by her brother returning from military service because it was alleged that she had a relationship with her brother-in-law.
- Waterpolo teacher Müjgan Albayrak, divorced from her husband, was shot by her brother whilst she was dining with her boyfriend.
- Hülya Yakar was killed by her 11 year old son because she went out a lot.
- Cezvet Murat killed two of his sisters, Ayten Murat and Gülten Söylemez, because they came home late and he decided that they were prostitutes.
- Pregnant Ayse Tarhan was stabbed to death by her husband Behman Tarhan because he suspected that she was having an affair. After killing her he separated her flesh from her bones and then buried in the stove…
- A 17 year old woman, Yurdagül Ayaz, 8 months pregnant with twins was killed by 30 knife wound. She was found in the local cemetery with the knife in her vagina. Before her death, her father Hanife Ayaz (62 years old) chained her in his basement to make her to marry a man she did not love. She was supposedly in love with her cousin and married him but after the marriage he forced her into prostitution and was arrested by the police. Five days later she was found dead. It all happened in Gaziantep.
For more cases, click Some real life stories.
Poor Human Rights records, prominent
amongst them is the violence against women, has been a roadblock to
Turkey’s desire for entering the European Union. As honor violence
started flourishing after the AKP-led Islamists came to power in 2002,
the government was forced to form a parliamentary committee
in 2005 for investigating the underlying reasons for the high rates of
honor killing violence in the deeply religious south-east Anatolian
religion of Turkey.
New measures undertaken by the
government to stem the rising tide of honor killings in Turkey, seemed
to have some impact, as fathers or family members, fearing legal
punishments should they honor kill offenders, started encouraging the
women to kill themselves so as to relieve the families of the dishonor
caused by them. (see Women told: 'You have dishonoured your family, please kill yourself')
Nonetheless, the recommendations of the
committee and the measures undertaken obviously didn't work as the rate
of honor killings has kept rising higher than ever. Where Islamists
come, Islam must come too, irrespective of you call it a secular country
or whatever.
M A Khan is the author of Islamic Jihad: A Legacy of Forced Conversion, Imperialism and Slavery.
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire