1 The Honour Killings in Turkish Jurisprudence Eda Asl? ?eran In this paper, honour killings are not analysed or conceptualized in socio-cultural context. The focus will be on defining the legal politics while combating honour killings, especially in Turkey after the year 2005. Turkey took concrete steps to prevent the honour killings in 2005 while reforming its Penal Code subsequent to the pressure of women rights activists. Unfortunately, legal reform has not affected the social order as much as expected in the favour of women. The focus of this study is Turkish Supreme Court of Appeals' general approach towards combating of honour killings. First, the gender mainstreaming in Turkish law order is explained. Then, Turkish Penal Code reform and the changes regarding honour killings are defined. Finally, the Turkish Supreme Court of Appeals' amendments on case laws that are in relation to honour killings are going to be discussed. Feminist methodology is going to be used to analyse the changes in Turkish jurisprudence. Honour Killings Killings in the name of honour still exist in the 21st century as one of the most threatening obstacle which resembles the efforts for abstaining women from being autonomous individuals. An honour crime is different from any other kind of killing, because it is a systematic and an organized reaction (Ecevito?lu, 2012: 22). In patriarchal societies, the tool for controlling women body, women sexuality and women space is the notion of honour. Using this notion, men force women to obey patriarchal gender roles that are formed and established in oral Special thanks to Assistant Professor Dr Zeynep Özlem Üskül Engin who encouraged and supported me to write this article and present it in Women's Worlds Congress 2014 in Hyderabad, India. I would like to thank Asl? Takanay as well who contributed to this article by checking the English writing and helped me in translation. I am very happy to know both of these inspiring women.
12 · Eda Asl? ?eran and written culture, within religious and social frames. Women are thereby expected to conform to these patterns (Türkan, 2013: 254; McClelland, 2013: 60). In Turkish, the word namus is used for honour and it originally comes from the word Nomoß, an a Ancient Greek word. The masculine word Nomoß can be defined as custom, law, anything that becomes settled or gained its meaning by interpretation. In Turkish, the meaning of namus is loyalty, chasteness, honesty in general (Akbaba, 2008: 335-336). According to perpetrators, the main reason for honour killings is that women, by disobeying the standards that are defined for their sexual attitudes, dishonour both themselves and the whole family and, thus, make their families filled with shame (Kandiyoti, 2011: 81; McClelland, 2013: 60). Attitudes of women that are considered to be dishonourable by the perpetrators are, in general, as follows: Emotional relationships outside the wedlock, which is seen as cheating; attempt to divorce a man or break-up with a boyfriend; new relationship of a divorced woman with a man other than her previous husband;