Because the culprits “involved in the case faced social estrangement if they had not acted as they did.” And what’s that say about Turkish — or shall one say Muslim — society?
“Top court lenient on “honor killing”,” from Hurriyet, May 15:
ISTANBUL – The top appeals court has upheld a lower court’s decision to be lenient on those who are found guilty of honor killing because the two families in Diyarbakr involved in the case faced social estrangement if they had not acted as they did.
In 2005 in the village of Kozan, a woman whose husband was performing his military service was seriously wounded after being shot by a teenager.
It became apparent that there was a rumor she was having an affair with another man in the same village. She later dismissed the rumor and argued that she was raped.
As a result of the rumor, her husband’s family decided to murder the girl and ordered the 16-year-old brother of the husband to do the deed, hoping the courts would be lenient toward him because of his age.
The 16-year-old was given an unregistered gun by his mother, brother and uncle and told to shoot his sister-in-law. He shot her five times in the presence of other family members. His uncle checked the body and told the boy to shoot her a few more times to ensure she was dead. She was shot a total of 10 times but was still alive when the gendarmerie arrived to rush her to a nearby hospital and saved her life.[…]
The top court said the region’s tradition placed an incredible burden on the two families and that if they had not done what they did, their community would have ostracized them.