Father gets six years, brother released in honor killing

A court has sentenced a man from Diyarbakır to six years in prison for killing his daughter six years ago, but has released the woman’s brother, who also participated in the honor killing, the Sabah daily reported on Tuesday.
The incidents leading up to the murder started when 18-year-old Gülseren Tanrıkut was raped by her stepbrother. When other members of the family found out about the rape, they decided to marry her off to another man.

Upon learning that his wife was not a virgin, the husband began to beat Gülseren, who then returned to her family’s house. Following her return, people in their neighborhood began spreading rumors, implying she was unchaste. To restore the family’s honor, her family decided to kill her.

Hasan Tanrıkut, Gülseren’s father, strangled her with a cable while his son Mehmet held her legs to prevent her from fighting back as his other son, 12-year-old İdris, witnessed the incident unfold. The father then poured molten nylon on her face to make her unrecognizable and put her body in a sack before ordering his sons to throw the body away.

The murder came to light after Gülseren’s mother discovered the body and recognized her daughter. İdris’s testimony revealed what had happened, but the statement was not officially recorded because he was a minor at the time. Mehmet, 15, tried to take responsibility for the crime, claiming that he had warned his sister to be careful and not disgrace the family but that she did not heed his warnings but instead harshly rebuked. İdris later recanted his testimony.

A Diyarbakır penal court sentenced both father and son to life imprisonment, as stipulated in the former Turkish Penal Code (TCK), for murder and later reduced the father’s sentence to 30 years for good behavior and Mehmet’s sentence to 15 years due to his age, while the mother and İdris were released.

The Supreme Court of Appeals reversed the ruling in accordance with the new TCK, which was introduced in 2005 and carries a life sentence for honor killings while changing provisions that address “unjust provocation” in an attempt to prevent the use of unjust provocation as a defense in cases of honor killings.

Hearing the case for the second time in recent months, the court sentenced the father and son to aggravated life imprisonment; however, the punishment was later decreased to 24 years in prison each. With further reductions for good behavior, the father’s punishment was decreased to 20 years, while the son’s dropped to six years, eight months. Since Mehmet has already been in prison for more than six years, he was released. The father will serve six more years in prison.

The court ruled that Gülseren’s lifestyle, considered to have dishonored her family, and her dismissal of her brother’s warnings as well as speaking harshly with him amounted to unjust provocation, thus leading to a reduction in the sentences. The Supreme Court of Appeals upheld the court ruling on Dec. 10.

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