Domestic violence in Turkey reaches boiling point

[unhappycamper]

http://www.dw.com/en/domestic-violence-in-turkey-reaches-boiling-point/a-18576377

A series of violent attacks against women in Turkey has put the entire country on edge - with little hope for change. Could one woman's act of defiance begin to challenge an established culture of patriarchy?

Domestic violence in Turkey reaches boiling point
Sertan Sanderson
11.07.2015

Turkish authorities arrested a 28-year-old woman in the southeastern city of Adana earlier this week after her uncommon crime sparked a great deal of public interest - and even some admiration.

Cilem Karabulut turned herself in to the police and admitted to killing her husband, Hasan, aged 33, with his handgun. But Karabulut insisted that she was defending her "honor;" the husband had allegedly beaten, drugged and abused her. Furthermore, Karabulut claimed that he had also tried to force her into prostitution.

Soon the Turkish press descended on Adana and focused Karabulut's defiant attitude toward the crime. "It shouldn't only be women who do all of the dying here. It's time for men to do some dying, too," she said in regards to the escalating violence against women in the country.

Honor killings - no longer for men only

Karabulut set a precedent when she defended the murder by referring to the importance of her honor, as so-called "honor killings" had so far been considered reserved only for men murdering women. Leyla Kaya, the women's commissioner for the Association for Human Rights (IHD), described Karabulut's act as "quite unusual."

[Novara]

1. I hope the threat of women defending their own honor scares the hell out of them

Time to flip the narrative.

[Nay]

2. Agreed! It's a sad thing, but the only thing some men respect is violence.