Sad milestone for Turkey: 1,000 honor killings in 5 years

The Prime Ministry’s Human Rights Directorate issued a report on “honor killings,” which contains discouraging findings, daily Radikal reported Friday.

In Istanbul, at least one person dies every week because of honor killings according to the report, which is the most comprehensive in its field. The number of murders committed for honor in the last five years has exceeded 1,000. The murderers are treated as heroes in prisons and they do not regret their crimes.

“The Report on Honor Killings” was presented by the president of the Prime Ministry’s Human Rights Directorate, professor Dr. Tahsin Fendoğlu, at a meeting called “Women and Participation: Problems and Solutions.” According to the report, the number of honor killings was 150 in 2002, while it rose to 220 in 2007. Occurrence of honor killings is inversely proportional with education levels. Not only women but also men fall victim to honor killings. Besides, around 9 percent of the murders are committed by children.

The report declares that metropolitan cities are leading crime scenes of honor killings. In the last five years, 167 people were murdered in Istanbul. Ankara followed with 144, İzmir with 121, and Diyarbakır with 69. The crimes were mostly perpetrated by people with origins in eastern Turkey. The report states that the number of honor killings in Istanbul increased to 53 in 2007 from 27 in 2006.