Though this study is revealing, it fails to note the correlation between religion and honor-killings. In other words, of all the honor-killings that occur, what percentage of them are at the hands of Muslims, Christians, Jews, etc.? Who, pray tell, has the lion’s share? “Honor killing perpetrators welcomed by society, study reveals,” from Today’s Zaman, July 12 (thanks to Writer Mom):
A study being conducted by a team from Dicle University in the Southeast on honor killings has so far shown that little if any social stigma is attached to the act.
Anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists and social workers are involved in the study, due to conclude in August. Associate Professor Mazhar Bagli from Dicle University Department of Sociology is supervising the study.
The team visited 44 prisons in the region and interviewed 180 perpetrators of honor killings. Of these, 100 percent say they do not regret their actions, Professor Bagli notes. In some cases, the victim’s relatives even praised the perpetrator, he adds.
Causes of honor killings vary. “It is not appropriate to associate honor killings with only one section of society. Some people think that it is related to a feudal structure, but this has proven to be false. There are also perpetrators who are well-educated university graduates. Of all those surveyed, 60 percent are either high school or university gradates or at the very least, literate. The victims of honor killing are not always women; males have also been targeted,” Bagli says.