Between Traditional Practice and Secular Law: Examining Honor Killings in Modern Turkey

The popular image of Turkey as a secular, Westernized country gracefully bridging the divide between the traditional religious Middle East and modern Europe does not capture the full spectrum of Turkish society. Although Turkey may appear to have fully entered the modern Western world, the continued prevalence of honor killings and the patriarchal social structure that supports the practice testifies to the deeply rooted traditional practices that remain a visible component of many communities. Despite Ataturk's modernizing social, governmental, and religious reforms in the 1920s and 1930s, honor killings continued in traditional rural communities with few consequences for the murderers until within the last decade. Since the 1990s as Turkey has attempted to integrate itself more fully with the European community honor killings have attracted increasing attention from human rights activists and academic scholars. Researchers have focused on the cultural, traditional, and religious basis of honor killings, however many scholars disagree over whether religion is a factor and the extent of its influence on the traditional practice. While some researchers report that it is a purely traditional and cultural practice with no connection to religion, others maintain that popular interpretations of Islam are an important component in the continuation of honor killings. Regardless of the connection between religion and honor killings, the strongly patriarchal social structure of Turkish society supports the practice and has contributed to its continued prevalence in modern Turkey. Although the Turkish government has enacted legal reforms aimed at eradicating the practice, these new laws have been ineffective and there is evidence that honor killings are