Gendering Necropolitics: The Juridical-Political Sociality of Honor Killings in Turkey

Abstract

This article maps some of the intersections between national legislations, jurisdictions, and tribal practices that have detrimental consequences for women in Turkey. The article argues that everyday practices of justice in line with juridico-political interests and the strategies of the sovereign state of Turkey protect traditional and customary practices, specifically honor killings and abandon women to violence. It discusses the ways in which juridico-political order of the state suspends the application of law in honor killing cases and does so by considering honor killing as an exception of the law and thus contributes to the continuation of this heinous crime. This article also examines the operation of biopolitical and necropolitical techniques of the tribal power that justify men's right to kill and to let die a woman in the name of honor. The analysis aims to contribute to discussion of the ways in which the patriarchal system reduces women to a bare life without the most basic of human rights—the right to life itself.

I would like to express my gratitude to the referees for their valuable comments and helpful suggestions in organizing this article. I am grateful to Editor Richard Hiskes and Managing Editor Aaron Paterson for their careful and sympathetic suggestions. I thank Kamari M. Clarke who read the earlier version and provided valuable comments. This article is dedicated to all women volunteers and contributors of the KA-MER Women's Center for opening up the frontier with their pioneering achievements to save the lives of Arab, Kurdish and Turkish women of the Eastern and Southeastern Turkey.

Cihan Ahmetbeyzade is a cultural anthropologist whose earlier work focused on feminist theory, the relationship between state and citizenship and ethnic identities in Turkey. Her current work explores the impact of national jurisprudence on women and violence against women in Turkey. Her earlier articles include “Kurdish Nationalism in Turkey and the Role of Peasant Kurdish Women” that appeared in Gender Ironies of Nationalism: Sexing the Nation, ed. Tamar Mayer (London: Routledge 2000), 187–204 and “Negotiating Silences in the So-Called Low-Intensity War: The Making of the Kurdish Diaspora in İstanbul,” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society (Autumn 2007), 159–182.

Notes

1. The list of literature provided here is intended to give a clear sense of issues that concerned feminists scholarship and is not exhaustive.

2. Here I am considering sovereignty in line with Carl Schmitt who defines it as the power to decide on the exception of law (1985: 9–10).

3. The usage of the term “honor killing” is debated by women in Turkey. Numerous women's NGOs use the term “killing in the name of honor” for definitional reasons. The linguistic, political, and epistemological significance of this debate is yet to be examined in Turkey.

4. Agamben defines bare life “the life of homo sacer (homo sacer), who may be killed and yet not sacrificed” (1998: 8, 83, 171 and passim, italics in original).

5. The concept of biopolitics is developed by Foucault in his examination of the disciplinary techniques as instruments of modern states (1978: 141).

6. See Araji's discussion about honor crimes in both non-Western and Western societies (2000).

7. For example, at age 14, Nuran Halitoğlu was raped and killed by her family. “The father, uncle, and cousin of Nuran were tried for her murder, and were thus sentenced to ‘life imprisonment’ for ‘voluntary manslaughter.”’ One of the rare legal decisions in Turkey. Available at: http://www.kamer.org.tr/kamer%2520english/REPORTS/2005NCReport.doc+Nuran+Halitoglu&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

8. Within the last ten years available data shows that reasons given to justify honor killings are far broader. For example in 1994, Hacer fell victim to an honor killing: Her confidante requested a love song from a local radio in honor of Hacer's platonic love affair with Murat.

9. A recent statistic in “Töre ve Namus Cinayetleri Raporu” (A Report on Customary and Honor Killings) was released by Turkish National Police Department of Public Order in August 2006 and examines 1091 “customary” murder cases that were reported within the last six years. These cases are registered in eight different categories; and yet, there is a possible relationship between three specific categories of murders for “sexual misconduct,” “forbidden relationship,” and the undefined category of “assault” and honor killings are not detailed. However, the document specifically highlights that a majority of murder cases (39%) occurred either within the Kurdish Region or among the families who migrated from the Region. Available at: http://www.egm.gov.tr/asayis

10. In June 2007, a daughter of migrant family from the Kurdish Region, a high school senior Hülya Taş and her boyfriend were killed by her older brother. Sixteen family members were arrested following the testimony of her younger brother who claimed that a day before her death, the family elders from different cities gathered in Ýstanbul and decided her murder. Available at http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1801

11. In 2005, a local women's NGO was able to release a woman who was kept chained in a cell in an animal shed for six years. http://hurarsiv.hurriyet.com.tr/goster/haber.aspx?id=3707233&tarih=20051227

12. See for example, Kristeva's insight on the issue of abject of horror (1982: 1, 9, 5).

13. In 2005 a young couple eloped and moved to Ýstanbul and were killed by the decision of elders. http://www.rojaciwan.com/modules.php?name=News&file=print&sid=3425

14. In 2007, after submitting to the orders of his elders, a young soldier escaped from his post and killed his sister who eloped and was legally married with a man from another tribe. http://www.aksiyon.com.tr/detay.php?id=26455

15. See for example Abu-Lughod's about the connotations of black color in a Beduin society (1986: 137).

16. Berdel is direct sister exchanges where families exchange daughters for their sons. However, in many cases, berdel functions as a transfer of a woman to another family to remedy a problem. Often times, following an honor killing, the family of the victim gives another daughter to their in-laws in order to compensate the loss. In S. A. case that occurred in November 2006, G. S. was given berdel, to compensate the loss to the S. A's in-laws. The information about this case is obtained from VA-KAD's press release of November 15, 2006, available at: http://www.ucansupurge.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3488&Itemid=77

17. Beşik kertmesi is a form of marriage initiated by the father of a newborn daughter immediately following her birth. Bride price arrangements are negotiated at a later time and prior to the young daughter's marriage.

18. The relationship between the Ottoman Empire and internally sovereign Kurdish tribes is examined by Beşikçi (1970: 72–93).

19. For the list of rebellions including locations and dates see Olson (1991: 205, n. 39).

20. The state's continual refusal to enact any serious land reform and tax law for agricultural land need to be considered within terms of the contract with Kurdish landlords.

21. The rule of marriage is father's brother's daughter marriages. Any attempt to marry one's own daughter outside of the rule has to be agreed by the father's brothers.

22. This is one issue of concern for women NGOs. However, other than the incidental information received from various cases, there is no available data or research at this time.

23. In contrast there is discrimination in registering the birth of girl children. See rare statistical information about birth registrations at http://www.indeksiletisim.com/aventis.asp?id=156

24. Naile Erdaş, a young teenager from Van, was raped. After giving birth, she was left to the custody of the prosecutor by the hospital doctors who were concerned for her safety. However, in October 2006, she was returned back to her family by the authorities. She was killed the next day by her brother.

25. Often, a mother who bore a male child is marked with honor of wearing a red sash around her forehead.

26. This condition is demonstrated in the murder of Birgül Batak in İstanbul, in 2006. Originally from Ağrı (Ararat), a child of a poverty, she was married through an arranged marriage at age 17. Unable to bear a child, her husband's family asked for compensation. Her father had no means to compensate, which caused a stir between the families. Violently beaten by her husband, she ran away and asked for protection from the police. She was returned back to her husband. The consul of Batak tribe representing both of the families traveled about 880 miles from Ağrı to İstanbul and decided her death. Shortly after that meeting she was killed. Though her husband took the responsibility, her husbands brother was also held for the murder.

27. The Second Amendment of the 1924 Constitution of the Turkish Republic declares that the state is secular and reformist. The principals of “human rights” and “democracy” were added to the revised Second Amendment in the 1961 Constitution.

28. The Turkish Penal Code was originally codified in 1889 during the reign of the Ottoman Empire. The Code was developed by partial translation of Italian Penal Code of Giuseppe Zanardelli. The Turkish Republic, including various developments in the Zanardelli Code, enacted it in 1926 and minor changes were added in the 1930s. To the point, Sami Selçuk, the Honorary Head of the Court of Appeals, reiterated the 1980 pronouncement of Marc Ancel: “The Italian Penal Code was debased in Turkish application.” Available at: http://www.haber10.com/haber/18630/

29. The “state feminism” is first used and examined by ş. Tekeli (1986). See also Z. Arat for her rejection of the term (1994: Endnote # 8, pp. 73–74).

30. Not only as the symbols of the nation but also they were recognized as citizens only if they were born to a Turkish father (see the 1924 Turkish Constitution; Section 4, Amendment 88).

31. Quoted in Durakbaşa (1999: 145).

32. In 1935, eighteen selected women were elected as deputies to the Grand National Assembly. They represented 4.4% of the Assembly. Presently, Turkish women hold only 4.6% of the seats.

33. Slavoj Žižek's insight is important here: “Democracy is OK if it is cleansed of its populist excesses and limited to those mature enough to practice it” (2005: 120).

34. See Jacques Derrida (2004).

35. For this reason only, following the International Women's Congress (18–24 April 1935) in İstanbul, Turkish Women's Association declared that they were “joyously” dissolving themselves under the directives of the state (Zihnioğlu 2003: 257).

36. CEDAW Part 1, Article 9, Paragraph 1 states that “States Parties shall grant women equal rights with men to acquire, to change, or to retain their nationality. They shall ensure in particular that neither marriage to an alien nor change of nationality by the husband during marriage shall automatically change the nationality of the wife, render her stateless or force upon her the nationality of the husband.” Available at: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/text/econvention.htm

37. Known as the “TCK Kadın Platformu” the Platform consisted of thirty-seven women's NGOs.

38. In the following legal analysis about the New Penal Code, I used H. Arıkan's Türk Ceza Kanunu (Turkish Penal Code; 2005).

39. See also Hassan, Riffat explication of the term “Ird” in patriarchal Islamic societies (1999).

40. Prior to the New Turkish Penal Code, The Turkish State enacted the New Civil Code in 2002.

41. In many other countries, states also fail to enforce existing norms incriminating criminals by focusing on “honor defense.” See studies, for example, from Brazil (Nelson 1993), North America (Araji 2000), Arab societies (Abu Odeh 1995, 1996; Arnold 2001).

42. In the earlier phases of the preparatory legal work, the Justice Commission was aiming to limit the “unjust provocation” provision for a lenient sentencing for only honor killings, but not for “blood feuds” resulting from the enmities between families when men only kill men.

43. See Agamben for further elaboration of the concept of abandonment (1998: 58–62).

44. See for example the edited volume of B. Diana Miller for anthropological examinations of gender hierarchies in other cultures (1993).

45. The previous and New Penal Code does not give a legal definition for a “customary killing.” Within the last eighty years, expressed decision of the Supreme and Court of Appeals customary killings received contradicting opinions. However, the general opinion expressed is that a customary killing is recognized as agrapta nomina, unwritten laws, that necessitate a response to a lived experience in certain culture areas, or among the families who are members of these culture groups.

46. See Agamben's consideration of the state of exception as “a suspension of the juridical order” (2005: 4).

47. There are less than a handful of honor killings cases where lenient sentences were not handed down.

48. See Agamben's interpretations of Kafka's The Trial (1998: 49–55 and 2005: 63).

49. The aggravated mandatory lifetime sentence is one that must be imposed regardless of any other circumstances in honor killings. The prisoner who receives a mandatory lifetime imprisonment serves the entire sentence in a secure detention center in which inmates are locked up twenty-four hours a day.

50. The New Penal Code defines “crimes against life” in the Articles of 81 and 82 of the criminal code. Güldünya Tören's murder is within the Article 81-(1) as a intentionally committed murder, Article 82-(1), paragraph (a) premeditated murder, paragraph (d) murder of a member of ascending and descending generations, wife or sister, and the paragraph (j) murder according to customary law.

51. See Agamben's precise examination of the relation between the “necessity” and “a state of exception” (2005: 24–31).

52. In 2002, the United Nations Population Fund estimated that 5000 women are killed every year for honor related crimes. Police experts from EU countries met in Europol headquarters in 2006 to discuss honor killings (available at: http://www.dwworld.de/dw/article/0,1244406,00.html). Detailed information about honor killings in Europe is available in the following sites: http://www.stophonourkillings.com/News/article/sid=1507.html http://www.frauenrechte.de/tdf/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=339&Itemid=192 and http://www.papatya.org/veroeffentlichungen/resourcebook.htm

53. See, for example, feminist scholars critique about Western feminists' ethnocentric approaches to female cutting in Africa in Nnaemeka (2005).

54. Among various initiatives the Turkey Branch of Amnesty International launched an international eulogy competition for Güldünya Tören and one of the municipalities of İstanbul named a street after her. Available at http://www.radikal.com.tr/haber.php?haberno=225244

55. The women lawyers' appeal of these rejections are under consideration by the Appeals Court. İstanbul Bar Association Women's Rights Enforcement Center is considering taking their case to European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) according to the decision of the Appeals Court.

56. For example, only according to perpetrators' testimonies, it is documented in the Court records that sex between Güldünya Tören and her maternal cousin was a consensual sex. In their testimonies, Güldünya's brothers, the accused, chose to protect their maternal cousin from a possible case against him.

57. In Turkey, the Witness Protection Program only protects witnesses in cases of organized crime and there are no witness incognito provisions.

58. See for example honor killing cases among the Arab tribal families living in Turkey in Faraç (2002).

59. See Koğacıoğlu's insightful rendition of the explicit and implicit relationships between traditions and institutions in perpetuation of honor killings (2004).

60. For example, the myth of Sarıkız of present day Tahtacılar, a Turkoman nomadic tribe, is about an honor killing: an attempt of a father to kill his beloved daughter due to gossip about her reputation, is alive and well known in the present. See also Bingölçe about honor killings in folk songs (2004).

61. See also for example, Merry's explication of “traditional and customary” practices that are linked to honor killings (2006: 64).

62. See Benjamin's profound insights on the issue of legal violence (1986) and Derrida's reexamination of Benjamin's work (2002).