Honor Killing in Turkey

What I really wanted my blog to focus on this week is the topic of honor killing in Turkey. Honor killing is a topic that I was not aware about until recently. Any woman in the Turkish family that has brought dishonor to the family is to be exiled by the males of the family. I was amazed by some of the stories that I read on this topic. Many of them made me feel sick to my stomach. The brutality of the men towards these women is shocking. Honor is so important to the Turkish family that they are willing to commit such awful crimes in order to keep their honor.

One gruesome story that I read was about a young thirteen year old girl, who was rumored to talk to boys on the street and run away from home. The father decided one time that when she tried to run away that he was going to do something about it. He beat the girl with a kitchen knife and axe until she was dead. He then demanded his other daughter to clean up the mess and when his sons got home he instructed to them to remove the corpse and dispose of it.

Another even more shocking article that I read was about a young girl who had been kidnapped and raped. When she returned to the family the father did not want her to be his daughter anymore because of something that she could not even control. The father proceeded to strangled her with a wire explaining that the girl being raped and kidnapped brought dishonor to the family.

Statistics say that over 200 women and young girls are killed every year in turkey due to dishonor. Although the men who commit these crimes are usually punished by law, the law is not nearly strict enough as it should be. For the brutal killings these men give they should be serving the death penalty. Unfortunately many of them are getting off with the minimum sentence.

Turkey!

So far from what I have read about turkery, I have found many similarities between Turkish families and Egyptian families. Women in Turkey have similar roles as the women in Egypt. They are ment to be the one does all the household duties, and does not leave very far from the home. The men are trained to be the educated workers. It is said that women that are more educated in turkey are less fertile and usually only end up producing one child. Because of this women are encouraged to not seek out education and to stay at home and raise the children.

I found a very interesting website called turkish odyssey. It shares with people many interesting facts on women and feminism in Turkey as wel as other general information. Another part about this site that caught my eye was that it was completely dedicated to turkey and even has a link that shows images of turkey. I found the image up top of what looks like a marina in turkey with a beautiful landscape behind.

I am very excited to continue on with my research into the beautiful country of turkey and cannot wait to share it with all of you. While browsing through videos on youtube looking for something on turkey I came across this short clip which displays many of the middle eastern stereotypes we disscussed the first week of class.

Egyptian Family and Social Status

I decided to research Egyptian families and their social statues. I came across a website that I believe summarized the community very well and shared a lot of comparisons with Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery.

The term family in the country of Egypt is seen to be very ambiguous even more so then any other Middle Eastern country. In Egypt the families almost always remain close especially in lower class families. Many times their children will marry cousins and they always keep the same housing within the family and pass it down to relatives. They always remain in the same part of town as well and do not like moving from city to city. The section of the city that they live in defines what class they are in. All of the higher class families live in one area and the lower class live in another. The division of class in society is distinctive. The women almost always move in with the male’s family although they still remain close with their own family. Family is how a citizen is identified in society. The members of the family rely on each other a lot because they do not have any other outside people that they are as close with. They see their family as their social network and personal support.

I appreciate learning about the relationships between family members in other countries because they are very different than ours here in America. Although most of us would love to say that we have close relatives and family members, an American family cannot even compare to an Egyptian family. It is said that many Egyptians are incredibly willing to take outsiders into their family. Even people such as their servants and housekeepers sometimes move in the house and are seen almost as another family member. This is not something that we see taking place in America very much.

Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery

I really enjoyed reading Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery because it is a very clever and well thought out book. The book starts off by introducing you to all the characters at a young age. One aspect of the book that I enjoyed the most was the descriptiveness of it. It describes to you a clear picture of all the characters so that when you continue to read more into the book you can read very deeply and imagine what it was actually like if you were in the story.

The character of the book that fascinated me the most was the character of Safiyya. She went through many transformations throughout the story. She started off as being a beautiful girl that everyone was afraid to envy. Then after she was married she turned into her husband’s slave when she would wait on him hand a foot. After the bey, her husband, dies Safiyya turns into a revenge seeking old woman. At the young age of twenty they describe Safiyya as having wrinkles and being addicted to smoking from the pipe.

Perhaps one of the most important characters of the book is the narrator. He is the heart and soul of the book. He witnesses everything from the beginning from his fascination with Safiyya all the way up to the death of his uncle Harbi. It seems as though this character was not able to live a life of his own because of Safiyya and Harbi. The book cleverly was written from his point of view because he shared both sides of the story, which created for an interesting conflict in the book. I would recommend this book to not only people who are interested in learning about Egyptian culture, but just for anyone who enjoys reading.

Reel Bad Arabs

The Film Reel Bad Arabs was very insightful and opened my mind to a topic that I previously did not know that much about. I did not realize how many Arab stereotypes were in films until I watched this film. It made me feel a lot like a hypocrite by watching it because I realized how close minded I was towards this topic. I would be extremely offended if Americans were portrayed in Arab films the way that some American films show Arabs.

In my opinion the film demonstrates how far Hollywood will go to make an income. All of these films plus the tragedy of September eleventh have turned Arabs into the enemy. Hollywood knows that by using the culture that is easiest to make fun of or is the most convincing as the villain they will make more money. What they don’t analyze is the stereotypes that they are presenting to young America. If women in America were portrayed in Arab films the way that we show Arab women, there would be feminist all over America that would be very irate.

Overall this film excited me about this class because it opened up my eyes to something that before I did not even notice. It made me very excited to do more research on the middle east and find out more about what is happening over there. It inspires me to become more educated on the topic so that I can pass my knowledge onto others. If more Americans were educated on the middle east I think that the country as a whole would have a different opinion on them and not jump to the conclusion that everyone is a terrorist or a villain.