Saturday, May 23, 2009

TURKEY: HONOUR KILLING, SIMILAR TO ROMEO AND JULIET

Another double honor killing in Turkey, the country that wants to join the EU. No matter how much many secular Turks want to join the Western world, the pious Muslims among them continually drag the country back to 7th century Islam.

FROM ANSAMED.INFO:

TURKEY: HONOUR KILLING, SIMILAR TO ROMEO AND JULIET
(ANSAmed) - ANKARA, MAY 21

A few days after the attempted honour killing of a young women, Yildiz A. - whose nose and ears were cut off in order to disfigure her - another honour crime has been reported in the same region in Turkey, which resulted in the death of a man and the injury of a girl, as reported by Turkish daily Hurriyet. The most recent episode, a sort of Turkish-style Romeo and Juliet, took place in Dogubeyazit (also in the Agri province), which has a large Kurdish majority and is located in eastern Turkey on the border with Iran and Armenia. Orhan Topkac, 26, and O.T., who just turned 16, belong to two families that have been involved in a bloody feud for years. Nonetheless, they fell in love and since they both knew that they would never be allowed to marry ran away to Izmir (Smirne). Their escape was not accepted by the man's family, which proclaimed that both of them must die. Orhan's older brother Mehmet was given the responsibility of performing the honour crime. He called the two lovers and convinced them to return to Dogubeyazit, where he promised that he would give them a ride to Iran where they would be safe from the conflict between the two families. As soon as the two young lovers returned to their town, Mehmet shot them both. Orhan died immediately and the girl was injured. This did not satisfy Orhan's family members and, after the girl was put in an ambulance, they followed and tried to stop the vehicle while she was being brought to the hospital. The Red Crescent (the Islamic equivalent of the Red Cross) driver managed to escape to a local police barracks. The girl was then brought to a hospital in Erzurum, which is where Yildiz A. is currently under observation.(ANSAmed).