QWANZ

The sensitive debate over honor killings resurfaced in Turkey last month, following the discovery of the body of a 16-year-old girl buried alive by relatives for allegedly talking to boys.1 Medine Memi, who was reported missing just a few months earlier, was found sitting with her hands bound in a two-meter hole beneath a chicken pen outside her home in Kahta, Turkey. An autopsy later revealed traces of soil in Medine’s stomach and lungs, indicating she was alive and fully conscious when...  Read more

The sensitive debate over honor killings resurfaced in Turkey last month, following the discovery of the body of a 16-year-old girl buried alive by relatives for allegedly talking to boys.1 Medine Memi, who was reported missing just a few months earlier, was found sitting with her hands bound in a two-meter hole beneath a chicken pen outside her home in Kahta, Turkey. An autopsy later revealed traces of soil in Medine’s stomach and lungs, indicating she was alive and fully conscious when buried alive by her father and grandfather, who decided to take extreme action following a family council meeting.2 Medine’s death is justified in the eyes of her perpetrators, who murdered the young girl in an honor killing for the crime of disgracing her family by having male friends.