Medine Memi, 16, was buried alive in the courtyard of her house. (Feb. 4, 2010)
After reading this article, I became very frustrated. Honour killings, or killing where the a female is killed by her family member, after she is believed to bring shame to the family. It is believed by killing her, the family can maintain its honour, however, I believe there is little honour in killing you daughter, wife, or sister. “young woman is suspected of “dishonouring” the family by wearing tight clothes, having unauthorized contact with young men, or falling victim to rape, a family council is called, and a family member appointed as an executioner.”
Tight clothing? How many of us would have been killed if we lived with a family that believed honour killing was acceptable?
Unauthorized contact? God created both man and woman, is it bad to speak with another of God’s creature? And, what harm can possibly arise from talking to another person of another gender?
Falling victim to rape? Rape is not the women’s fault, if someone raped a woman, kill her perpetrator, not her. She deserves to live, her dignity has been stolen and stripped, and by killing her, it is suppose to preserve the family honour while the perpetrator can walk scot-free?
This is very sad, and unacceptable. Women are also humans, the most important human right; the right to life is infringed upon. Women deserve to choose what they want to do, because, we women are capable of making our own choices, we women are capable of doing so. Women’s rights, are human rights, because women are also human.
by: Anjali Sivakumar
To read full article, click here:
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/761525–woman-buried-alive-to-save-family-reputation
This is an excerpt of the article: In a remote, mountain-fringed town of southeastern Turkey, a young woman who had barely begun to live met a terrifying death.
The body of the 16-year-old Medine Memi was found in an earthen grave last December, slumped in a sitting position with her hands tied. Large amounts of soil were in her lungs and stomach. She had been buried alive, the apparent victim of an honour killing.
But her suffocating death was symbolic of the fate that awaits hundreds of young rural Turkish women, some killed after moving to cities like Istanbul.
“It is really horrific,” says professor Shahrzad Mojab of University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. “The practice has migrated to larger cities from the villages.
“It’s a question of poverty, lack of education and political ethnic suppression.”
In a long and arduous bid to join the European Union, Turkey has updated its laws on honour killing and imposed life sentences on perpetrators.
But more than 200 women a year in Turkey are killed by family members. Community workers say the figures are likely higher, as many go unreported.
In Turkey’s impoverished Kurdish region, the practice of honour killing has become a well-known ritual that is chilling in its precision: when a young woman is suspected of “dishonouring” the family by wearing tight clothes, having unauthorized contact with young men, or falling victim to rape, a family council is called, and a family member appointed as an executioner.
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