Turkey Documentaries

I have previously written a blog on honor killings in turkey that contained some very interesting articles. Since then I have started reading a book titled "Burned Alive" it is a story of a girl who was meant to be killed by one of her brothers because she fell in love with someone and was seen as dishonoring the family. Her brother tried to kill her with by setting her on fire, but she miraculously survived! This is her story the hardships she faced as being a female in the Middle East. She describes how she was beaten up constantly and held to a very different standard from the males of her family. This is a true story however the story is written on an anonymous source to protect her from the males of her family to this day. If any of you were interested in the documentary on honor killings we watched in class or by the discussion professor Mirzeler led on honor killings I would suggest this book to you. It is a sad story, but is very empowering.

We got into quite the discussion last thursday about the issue of women wearing head scarves in Turkey. I would have to disagree with the people in the class who agreed with the fact women should not wear the head scarf. Just because Turkish women were given equal rights and are not being forced to wear the head scarf, they should still have the option if they want to. Isn't that what equality means? that they have the freedom to dress as they please? I understand that the government views the head scarf as a weakness for women and want to empower them by letting them take it off, but some women view this as a part of their culture are tradition. The fact that an educated women got boo-ed out of parliment by the prime minister did not demonstrate equality at all. It was strange that she felt more comfortable living in America wearing her head scarf then in her own home land.

I thought these two documentaries were very powerful and showed two different sides of issues that are occuring in Turkey.