A Kurdish Turk has been accused of murduring his daughter in a so called ‘honour killing’.
Honour killing is a misnomer.
It is better named a shame killing. Or just murder.
There is no honour in killing your daughter because she was raped, or because she loves someone not acceptable to your plans.
There is nothing but shame. Ugly, stupid, shame.
There are many examples of horrific honour killings, one more below:
On October 27, Turkish press reported that 15-year-old Naile Erdas from the southeastern city of Van was killed by her family when she gave birth to a child conceived during a rape. The girl, who hid her pregnancy, reportedly begged doctors at a state hospital where she gave birth not to return her to her family, fearing that she would be killed in accordance with the local tradition demanding her family’s honor be cleansed. Doctors informed state authorities, but the prosecutor nevertheless handed the young woman over to her family, which, as Naile feared, killed her. At year’s end, Naile’s uncles and father were under arrest for making the decision to kill her, while her brother, the suspected killer, remained at large. Source: US Department of state 2006 report
It seems to me that shame and religion go hand in hand, much like the Muslim men who wander the streets of (for instance) Tanzania or Saudi Arabia, holding each other’s hands, but to whom it is forbidden to even shake hands with a woman.
In the Qu’uran, a women is plainly stated as being only half the value of a man. In law as well as in mental aptitude.
In Judaism and hence Christianity, shame is brought upon poor innocent Adam through his spare rib partner, Eve, and her beguilement by a bad, wise, snake.
Woman are basically bad and they bring shame about for men.
In Islam women are asked (in stricter regimes some would say forced) to don the Hijab and to cover themselves and their ‘ornaments’. In Wahhabist Islam (the form of Islam most prevalent, possibly due to the fact that it is the harsh form Saudi Arabia practices, promotes and exports using her vast material resources) Women must cover up, essentially because if they don’t, men can’t be held accountable for the shameful things they will do.
This topsy-turvy logic is evinced in the abhorrent way Sharia law is sometimes enacted:
Some people defend their mediaeval beliefs by saying that the old texts give them a moral structure to adhere to, but I think to anyone who cares about what is ethical, or humane, these texts are predominantly unsacred products of their barbaric times – often used to excuse terrible acts and ideas.
Honour killing is just one such terrible act.
A shameful and unacceptable practice, dishonourable in the extreme.
