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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ISTANBUL 000452 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREL OSCE TU AA
SUBJECT: HONOR KILLINGS MIGRATE TO THE CITY 
 
REF: A. 06 ADANA 216 
     ¶B. 06 ANKARA 5606 
 
ISTANBUL 00000452  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. Summary and comment.  A recently-released GOT report 
suggests the traditionally rural practice of honor killings 
has spread to Western Turkish cities such as Istanbul.  The 
report concludes honor killings increased from 150 in 2002 
to 231 in 2007, with 1000 honor killings between 2003 and 
¶2007.  More honor killings occurred in Istanbul than any 
other province.  While the victims of honor killings are 
mostly young women, human rights experts believe the recent 
alleged honor killing of a gay male is a sign of a disturbing 
new trend. The migration of the barbaric practice puts 
pressure on the government to step up efforts to address 
the problem through education and increased attention.  The 
report, issued by The Prime Ministry Human Rights Presidency, 
should help to publicize the problem and its changing 
demographics.  End Summary and comment. 
 
Honor Killing Practice Spreading Geographically 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
 
¶2.  The Prime Ministry Human Rights Presidency's July 2008 
report on honor killings and domestic violence shows honor 
killings increased from 150 in 2002 to 231 in 2007, with 
1,000 honor and "moral" killings in the last five years 
(January 2003 - December 2007).  A total of 294 honor 
killings took place in Istanbul's Marmara region, while 
Central Anatolia reported 219 and the Aegean region 217. 
Of the 294 reported honor killings in the Marmara region, 
106 women were murdered for forbidden relationships, 72 for 
having been sexually harassed, and 18 for being raped. 
 
¶3.  More honor killings are now committed in Istanbul than 
any other province, according to the report, rising from 
27 reported murders in 2006 to 53 in 2007 - equivalent to 
a killing each week.  Most of the perpetrators migrated to 
the Marmara Region from eastern and southeastern Anatolia. 
Ayse Sucu, President of Diyanet Foundation's Women's 
Auxiliary Board, attributed the trend to rapid urbanization 
in the last 10-15 years. She blamed traditional conservative 
attitudes for the high incidence of honor killings, adding 
that migrants carry the custom with them as they move to big 
cities and abroad.  By failing to integrate newcomers into 
city life and society, urbanization allows such practices to 
continue, Sucu said.  Lawyer Fatma Benli of the women's 
rights organization Akder, told us that while the number of 
honor killings is high in Istanbul due to immigration of 
economic migrants from Anatolia, the numbers in southeast 
Anatolia are significantly underreported. She attributes 
this in part to a 2004 Penal Code amendment that allows 
prosecutors to charge all family members who participate 
in planning an honor killing, rather than just the 
actual perpetrator, in an effort to end-run the trend of 
having minors carry out the murder for their families to 
escape harsher sentencing. Under the new rules, families 
are less likely to announce honor killings. Benli said 
one way families circumvent the law is to force the relative 
to commit suicide, a theory supported by the report's fining 
that between 2005 and 2006, 1,985 women committed suicide. 
Benli says that families unwilling to risk punishment for 
honor killings will lock a young woman in a shed with 
a rope, urging her to commit suicide or starve to death. 
 
A New Trend in Honor Killing? 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  While the victims of honor killings are primarily young 
women, several contacts told us the recent killing of a gay man 
may signal a dangerous new trend.  Twenty-six year old 
Ahmet Yildiz, who represented Turkey at an international gay 
gathering in San Francisco last year, was shot leaving a 
cafQ in Istanbul on July 15.  Fatally wounded, Yildiz crashed 
while trying to flee attackers.  International Relations 
representative for the gay rights group Lambda Istanbul, Oner 
Ceylan, believes Yildiz was the victim of a struggle between 
growing civil liberties and old mentalities, resulting in 
what Ceylan suspects was murder by Yildiz's traditional 
family from Eastern Turkey.  Yildiz was open about his 
homosexuality with his family, who disapproved of his behavior. 
According to Ceylan, the body remained unclaimed in the 
morgue until media pressure forced Yildiz's uncle to collect 
it on the sixth day.  After honor-related murders, it is 
common for families to refuse to bury the victim. Yildiz's 
friends do not know the details of his burial, or whether 
 
ISTANBUL 00000452  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
a burial did indeed take place.  Beyond collecting statements 
from acquaintances, Ceylan contends the police are not 
investigating the matter. 
 
¶5.  This is not the first reported honor killing due to 
sexual orientation, Ceylan noted.  In 2004 a man allegedly 
hired an assassin to murder his brother for tainting the 
family honor by his homosexuality in the South Central Anatolian 
city of Kahramanmaras. Both the brother and assassin were 
arrested and the case remains in court. 
OUDKIRK