'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. Honour killing persists across 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. It includes an introduction by Joan Smith.
About the AuthorAyse Onal is an award-winning journalist and has reported on Turkish politics, organized crime and conflicts in the Middle East. Over the course of her work she has been threatened by Islamic fundamentalists, placed on death lists, arrested and shot. For ten years she was blacklisted by the Turkish state and could not write or work for Turkish media until the political embargo was lifted in 2005.
Reviews'...this is, clearly, a book that demands to be read...Onal's bravery is remarkable...her writing shows no fear.' Nicholas Lezard, The Guardian
Book InformationISBN 9780863566172
Author Ayse OnalFormat Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint Saqi BooksPublisher Saqi Books