Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Hot Links: Honor killings
Posted By CNN: 10:55 AM ET
  22 Comments
Hello~
It looks like Pope Benedict XVI is off to a good start considering the situation by his own doing that he is walking into. The Pontiff's words of brotherhood, reconciliation, and commitment for understanding between cultures and between religions are encouraging that he is trying to build a bridge. Hopefully. I am looking forward to more about his visit to Turkey on 360.
The honor killings. I don't know what to say. What a horiffic crime! For a Father to kill his daughter in front of her children for choosing to marry another man is madness. No comprende.
President Bush is blaming al Qaeda for the rising violence in Iraq when we all know that Iraq is in a civil war. Pres. Bush~ the horse is dead, quit beating it!
Posted By Anonymous Betty Ann, Nacogdoches TX : 12:08 PM ET
Honor killing? Now I get a clearer picture on why the EU is a bit adamant to keep Turkey out.
Posted By Anonymous Marcie, San Diego : 12:50 PM ET
The "Honor" killing article is very interesting. Only a woman can dishonor the family, not a man. It's still very hard for me to deal with other cultures and their sexist beliefs when it comes to women. The fact that the father was sentenced to life imprisonment only makes this a tragic story and my heart goes out to the children who witnessed their mother's death and now don't have a grandfather either. I read that there are over 5,000 women killed each year due to dishonoring their families...unbelievable!
Posted By Anonymous Jolene, St. Joseph, MI : 1:11 PM ET
Wait, President Bush is blaming someone other then himself for the violence in Iraq?? Go figure! I guess when you're personally responsible for the deaths of some 1500 American troops you have to blame someone! This guy is a joke. He went in there hoping by chance that he would find one of those "ever-elusive" WMD's to serve as his scapegoat for invading in the first place. Now, years have past, thousands of lives continue to be lost, billions of dollars have been spent, and Iraq is worse then it ever was. I would feel more comfortable with a 5 year old in office. When is this guy going to assume responsibility for the lives he's been destroying since he came into office? President Bush will forever be directly related with a very sad time in American history.

P.S. Have we found Osama yet? Remember, that guy who knocked down those big buildings in New York City? Ah, didn't think so. Thank you very much Mr. President for all you've done.
Posted By Anonymous Terry, Malvern PA. : 1:56 PM ET
So if it was a son who left his wife and then remarried, the Turkish father would �mercy kill� his son? I don�t think so.

Women are still getting mutilated in Africa, aborted because she carries the X-chromosome in China, and beat to death after US courts release a violent husband. We may have �come a long way, baby� but violence against women is a tragic, misunderstood phenomenon still existing in the 21st century. The violence is often hidden and �shamed� into complacency; therefore, measurement of such events is under reported.

It saddens me that her children will be scarred forever.
Posted By Anonymous Sharon D., Indianapolis, IN : 3:20 PM ET
Greeting,
You talk about reporting this and that can you report on the true god of islam, and what goes on, in their heaven.
Posted By Anonymous Jimmy, Chicago, IL : 4:03 PM ET
Honor killing-not good but a good reason to review legal history of the USA that long viewed women and children as chattel and to donate to your local abused women's shelter.

The real disgust is a President and his supporters who started and are still on a rightous Crusade that has changed the world in a negative direction. Oil, gold, power and dogma misdirected to justify destruction. The sad thing is that as the world churns, new alliances are being formed with the Iraq Study Group attempting 'restoration' without success.
Posted By Anonymous linda, bella vista,ar : 5:33 PM ET
Why is it so hard for you to show the modern side of life in Muslim countries? Last night's broadcast sucked..or maybe I have high expectations from you, all! There is CNN Turk in Turkey, with pretty decent journalists representing the secular media and public, and you interviewed a lunatic lawyer! Good for you! Do you really get more rating when you present the negative extremes? Can you once try to be objective and balanced when it comes to a Muslim country? Except for the scenes where the Turkisg flags were in, all the protest scenes were footage from other Islamic extremists and theirprotest outside of Turkey...
You show the pseudo human protestors and and here at West everybody thinks, that is what the Muslims feel...Then the media there shows and talks about child abuses and everybody there all the catholic priests are gay maniacs!

Come on, be decent!
Posted By Anonymous Meryem -Niagara Falls : 6:15 PM ET
Yes you live in the USA. I love freedom of speech, religion and choice. Imagine yourself without these freedoms. Now try applying these freedoms in a country which opresses choice. This world is NOT fair, freedom is WORTH fighting for. Institutionalized tyranny and brutality are NOT to be shyed away from. WAKE UP from your apathy AMERICA ...

Check out a beheading sometime, kinda drives home the point.
Posted By Anonymous Jon, Buffalo NY : 6:46 PM ET
�There�s a lot of sectarian violence taking place,� Mr. Bush said, �fomented in my opinion because of the attacks by Al Qaeda causing people to seek reprisal.�

and just what does Mr Bush think is "civil war"? It's when opposing groups within a country are at war with each other. It doesn't matter who instigates the war; it's still in internal affair.
Posted By Anonymous Deb, Richmond VA : 7:33 PM ET
Honor killing!!! Yes it's somehow true but it's not a tradition you can embrace every corner of country. These people may counted only one percent of the population. However I can't blame American for polygamy because Mormons do in Utah; you can't blame all Turkish people because of some stupid guys kill their daughters for their good name. It's unacceptable as a Turkish American. The one thing about the AC 360 in Istanbul special program, whenever the program' broadcasts, I see Pakistani people on the screen not Turkish.
Posted By Anonymous Cemil Ozyurt, New York : 11:05 PM ET
I am confounded with the Muslim public outrage on his highness Pope Bendict re-iteration of centuries old transcrits highliting the extreme and vilent nature of Islamic faith. This behaviour itself by Muslims have once again proves the point described in those transcripts. Historically, Islam religion has been an intimidating faith among people under the point of Gun or sword. This has been proved from time to time among themselves and across faiths in every part of the world. Religion leads to discipline in life not taking ones life.
Posted By Anonymous Krishna, Pittsburgh, PA : 11:20 PM ET
Think about this for a second: He got life in prison because of his "good behavior".

Quote from article: "The court jury, however, mitigated the punishment considering the good conduct of the accused during the trial..."

But this is what he did: "He first took the 28-year-old woman back home in Bursa and allegedly shot her six times in front of her children."

Punishment does not fit the crime and this is a glaring example of how they see women. I am going to thank God tonight that I was born and bred in the USA.
Posted By Anonymous Sue, Huntington, WV : 11:41 PM ET
Look, everyone who blames Bush for all the world's ills need to see reality. When a terrorist blows himself and other up, it is his choice to do it. It is his PERSONAL CHOICE to do it. No one is making him. They need to be held accountable for their actions not given a big group hug.
Posted By Anonymous Sue, Huntington, WV : 11:44 PM ET
The Pope does not represent all of America's faith's. The prople of Turkey who protest, need to know that we seek peace and understanding too. Yes we too, believe in Mohammed. There has been a spiritual sign discovered in our galaxy that is being said to be divine evidence of spiritual creation. This sign may in fact unite us all. The man that discovered this sign is the same man that created the World Unification Flag that is also comming soon.
Posted By Anonymous Randall Scott, Ritzville, Wa : 6:19 AM ET
Is this President for real? Does he think everybody is stupid or what? The violence in Iraq is being done by al queda, but a lot of it is because Bush refuses to take his troops out of there. I think the more Bush insists the troops are there till they succeed, the more violent al-queda will become. How many more lives are to be lost before someone stops this mans insane course of action. With most of the co-altion forces pulling out Bush will probably deploy more Americans. And the violence and the deaths go on and on.
Posted By Anonymous Bev Ontario Canada : 8:44 AM ET
First of all, thank you for the great program you did last night. I enjoyed watching it, as always. The reader named Jimmy says �You talk about reporting this and that can you report on the true god of Islam, and what goes on, in their heaven�. I am not the speaker of Muslims, but I myself as I Muslim, I can tell him what I believe. There won�t be �virgin� girls for Muslim men. There will be female AND male servants. There will not be sexual act, so stop dreaming about it. I don�t think it will be a place that you only sit and play hymns with harps. I am sure that there will be Kingdom of GOD, and people won�t mock, judge, harass and kill each other. No one really knows what it will look like for sure, but it will definitely be a better place the world we live in, full of hatred, ignorance. It is described beautifully in Kuran as well as in Bible, and it sounds like a physical place like we are in, but who knows, only GOD?

Regarding, honor killings�.I watched the show carefully yesterday since I am a Turkish American. The first woman on TV was Kurdish. She was NOT speaking Turkish. She spoke Kurdish. I am not trying to be divider, but Turkey�s 15% is Kurdish, and honor killing is more common between Kurds, so this application is not a common practice of Turks. Honor killing is an ignorant tradition especially common in the Eastern and Southeastern Turkey.

One last thing, while honor killing may be shocking to Western societies, it was very shocking to me when I first came to the US and watched some TV shows about �teenage pregnancies� and little girls looking for the father of their babies thru paternity tests on TV. This is something Turkey doesn�t have (at least yet). In the villages, there are some arranged marriages, abductions, elopes etc, but not like this. Turkish (and most Eastern people) give big importance their family names and reputations (including Asians, bringing shame to one�s family usually results in death, even sometimes suicide, hara-kiri). Of course, nothing can be more stupid than killing a person because she was raped, but the only solution to that is educating those people. Turkish government is doing their best to bring education and health to those people. 89% of Turkish people are modern. Did you know the literacy rate in Turkey is higher that a lot of countries in the world, including the US? Most Turkish people are university educated because it is affordable since public universities are free. Turks speak Turkish, not Arabic and they don�t ride camels (it�s been asked me several times).

The problem (and actually privilege) for Turkish people is that they do and at the same time don�t belong either West or East. They are too modernized and Westernized for Islamic countries, and for West they are �Muslims� to be stayed away from. When it comes to entering EU, who cares? Turkey has a young and educated population and Europe is getting older. It would be �their loss� not to accept Turkey, not Turkey�s. Actually instead of fearing from Turkey, they need to utilize it as a �role model� for other Muslims. There is a (fast) growing Muslim population in Europe, and hey!...Muslims in European countries even wear burka, and they are more radical than moderate Turkish Muslim. You can�t see a Turkish woman wearing a burka.

I like watching your shows. I believe they are as illuminating as they can be from an American�s lenses.
Posted By Anonymous Nida, Radford, VA : 9:44 AM ET
So, Al-Qaeda is to blame for everything. Of course,they are not my favorite bunch of crazy puppies. ut, the fact that Bush went into Iraq on false pretences, that he did not have a plan to secure the region(when history and facts were there that tensions were boiling,ready to erupt at the first occasion),that he didn't listen when they were asking for more soldiers...? That had nothing to do with what is happening? WOW! Can someone, anyone, spell D-E-N-I-A-L in the White House?
Sure, Iran is having a blast with its little terrorists friends & their hands are all over the place. But Bush made it easy for them. Guess who must be laughing his head of? Remember Bin Laden?
About "honor killings". I've been educating myself for years on different religions,cultures. Speaking with friends about it. Anyway you put it, I will never accept how too many women are treated around the world. Covering their bodies so nobody can see them(literally!),having no rights,no education,no voice,arranged marriage,excision,and so on...When were we so menacing to men that they needed to strip women of their rights to be a decent human being?
Whether the answer lies in religion,culture or tradition, it is pure and simple abuse. We need to stop hiding behind words, understand the roots of the problems and begin to fix it. ANd honor killings take the cake! It is plain, ugly MURDER. Since when do rapists,beaters deserve honnor? Ar least the guy in your story had prison. How many have no repercussions?.
Anderson, thank you for always telling stories of women being abused in the world. For every man posing an horrific act against a woman or child, there are thousands of amazing men. As for the women, those of us who are free to do as we please, let's not forget those of us who can't.
I still believe in the kindnest of the human heart.

Joanne Ranzell
Laval Quebec
Posted By Anonymous Joanne Ranzell Laval Quebec : 10:44 AM ET
Anderson,

These honour killings are prevalent in Kurdish communities in Turkey. These communties are still very tribal in their affairs and have not assimilated into Turkish life.
The reason that these communities are still tribal is the question that needs answering. The southeast of Turkey, that is predominantly Kurdish, has not shared in the economic and social investment that the rest of Turkey enjoys.
Posted By Anonymous Bob , Toronto : 12:02 PM ET
I hope this positive aura follows the pope throughout his whole trip .... (and longer...)

honor killing is disgusting and against anyyyyy religion....i've read most major religious texts (they all have slight "flaws" in themselves too, depending upon your perspective...Bible, Torah, Koran, Gita)...so if you don't believe me, read then yourself! people need to realize that sometimes people think "cultural" stuff is more important than religion or will mistaken horrific things for religion (female circumcision--hello!!?) = they are just un-educated people who sadly enough can't read/write, misinformed or maybe too lazy to look it up properly and SO they listen to any whacko around...sorry guys....it happens in the world! (go to www.hrw.org to see how many things people are un-educated about)

(for example: Mr. Bush thinks he's this "godly christian man" and clearly the "decider" but believes in torturing people, warsss, money over service to the poor, cocaine,....wow he's definitely screaming Christian & religious....it's so wrong and unfair to people that are truly religious)

The U.S. has had problems too - they tried justifying Slavery by using the Bible, have terrorist organizations like the KKK, in many states had laws basically making it okay for men to "rape" their wives.....etc etc

And I'm not surprised that Bush & his peepz, are blaming the whole world for problems that they created and intensified because they ill-prepared our hard working troops and didn't estimate Iraq properly....total cry babies --> let me guess, next he'll be blaming our education system for NOT teaching him how to speak English?!?



nice articles...Mr. Producer
Posted By Anonymous deepa, Buffalo,NY : 12:48 PM ET
Well, honor killings do happen in Turkey. No matter how much we don't like the idea of it happening in Turkey. It does happen. No matter how much we don't like it to be broadcasted on TV, it does happen. Although it happens in a small part of Turkey, although it happens rarely, it does happen. So what are we going to do about it. Are we going to push it aside, and get angry at people for reporting it, or are we going to own it and try to do something about it. I see it as a positive thing that it is out and being discussed. Maybe people will start paying attention to the reactions it brings and try to improve Turkish courts which occasionally (unfortunately) lets the killers get away with a slap on the wrist.

I understand the feelings of many Turkish Americans. Things that are newsworthy seems to be only the negative things about Turkey. The truth is Turkey is much more modern country than it was presented on the news here in the US. Although there are many things that needs to improve it is a beutiful country, filled with many people who are hoping to improve it's democracy (espacially the young generation). They would like to make Turkey a better place. Not for the sake of EU like so many people believe in the US but for the sake of living in a better country. I watched Anderson talk about the honor killings but I also watched him call Turkey a Modern Country. So I though it was fair. Turkey has both, which makes it a very interesting place.
Posted By Anonymous Dilek, Highland Park NJ : 1:07 PM ET
Mr. AC
You are showing one hand and doing trick with the other. You are pretending in here that the guy killed his daughtere because of islam.
I'll tell you what is the attitude of the west towards islam..........
A man is taking a walk in Central park in New York. Suddenly he sees a little girl being attacked by a pit bull dog . He runs over and starts fighting with the dog. He succeeds in killing the dog and saving the girl's life. A policeman who was watching the scene walks over and says: "You are a hero, tomorrow you can read it in all the newspapers: "Brave New Yorker saves the life of little girl" The man says: - "But I am not a New Yorker!" "Oh ,then it will say in newspapers in the morning: 'Brave American saves life of little girl'" � the policeman answers. "But I am not an American!" � says the man. "Oh, what are you then? " The man says: - "I am a Saudi !" The next day the newspapers says: "Islamic extremist kills innocent American dog.
Posted By Anonymous Asiya. TEmpe AZ : 1:24 PM ET
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