Quotes of the Day

As part of its bid to meet E.U. standards, Turkey last year approved legislation making "honor killings" — the practice of men killing their female relatives for perceived immoral behavior — punishable by life in prison. But a growing number of female suicides in southeastern Turkey, the country's poorest and most conservative region, this year has raised suspicion that women are now being forced to kill themselves to spare their male relatives a jail term. In the province of Batman (pop. 500,000) hospital records show there have been 31 attempted female suicides this year, already more than last year's total, and five women have died, although the total number of actual suicides is impossible to document.

"Women are locked away in a room with a rope and put under pressure. Or they might be forced to take rat poison," says Nebahat Akkoc, founder of Ka-Mer, a women's rights group in Diyarbakir, the regional capital of the south-east. Last week the U.N. sent Yakin Ertürk, rapporteur on violence against women, on a fact-finding mission to investigate the suicides.

Some 70 women die in honor killings in Turkey every year, mostly in the southeast, women's groups say. The real figure may be higher — in remote villages, deaths can often go unrecorded. A survey in southeast Turkey last year found nearly 40% of mostly male respondents said a woman guilty of adultery should be killed. And violence against women is still widely tolerated in Turkey. A prominent M.P. from the ruling Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (akp) recently made headlines for beating his wife when she confronted him over having an affair. His behavior earned him little rebuke — the akp said it was a family matter. "It's not enough to have new laws," says Akkoc. "We need real political willpower if we're going to make any progress."

• PELIN TURGUT
• A spate of "honor" killings in south east Turkey are disguised as suicides