Book description
Honour killing persists around the Middle East, where regimes
refrain from tackling primitive traditions for fear of sparking
unrest. Ayse Onal interviewed imprisoned men in Turkey convicted of
killing their mothers, sisters, and daughters. The result is a
revealing and ultimately tragic account of ruined lives - both the
victims' and the killers' - in a country where state and religion
conspire to hush up the killing of hundreds of women every year. 'Ayse
Onal has done an immense service by revealing what it is like to live
in an honour-based society and the terrible cost, not just to the
women who are beaten and eventually killed, but to the perpetrators
and other relatives.' Joan Smith. 'A compelling, disturbing
examination of a tradition that stubbornly persists in modern Turkey' Guardian
'Ayse Onal has done an immense service by revealing what it is like
to live in an honour-based society and the terrible cost, not just to
the women who are beaten and eventually killed, but to the perpetrators
and other relatives.' Joan Smith 'Onal's bravery is remarkable. She
lives in fear for her life. But her writing shows no fear.' Nicholas
Lezard, the Guardian "Ayse Onal has won many awards for her work
as a journalist, including the Courage in Journalism Award, and has
reported on Turkish politics, organised crime and conflicts in the
Middle East. She has been blacklisted by the government, threatened by
Islamic fundamentalists, placed on death lists, arrested and shot. She
was blacklisted again in 2007 after implicating the government in the
assassination of journalist Hrant Dink and three Christian Turkish
publishers. She lives in Istanbul."
