Gedenktafel Oberlandgarten 1 (Temp) Hatun Sürücü

Hatun "Aynur" Sürücü (also spelled Hatin Sürücü; 17 January 1982, in

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under m ...

– 7 February 2005, in Berlin) was a Kurdish-Turkish woman living in Germany"Tatmotiv Kultur"
Frankfurter Allgemeine, 02.03.2005; F.A.Z., 03.03.2005, Nr. 52 / page 37 (German). whose family was originally from

Erzurum Erzurum (; ) is a List of cities in Turkey, city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010. The city uses t ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. She was murdered at the age of 23 in Berlin, by her youngest brother, in an

honor killing An honor killing (American English), honour killing (Commonwealth English), or shame killing is the murder of an individual, either an outsider or a member of a family, by someone seeking to protect what they see as the dignity and honor of ...

and sororicide. Sürücü had divorced the cousin she was forced to marry at the age of 16, and was reportedly dating a German man. Her murder inflamed a public debate over

forced marriage Forced marriage is a marriage in which one or more of the parties is married without their consent or against their will. A marriage can also become a forced marriage even if both parties enter with full consent if one or both are later forc ...

in Muslim families. Sürücü was sent to her ancestral village by her family and forced to marry a cousin there at the age of 16. She gave birth to a son, Can, in 1999. In October 1999, she fled her parents' home in Berlin, finding refuge in a home for underage mothers. She attended school, and had moved into her own apartment in the Tempelhof neighborhood of Berlin. At the time of her murder, she was at the end of her training to become an electrician.

Murder

On 7 February 2005, at a bus stop near her apartment, Sürücü was killed by three gunshots to the head. The police arrested three of her brothers on 14 February. After several weeks of news coverage, the media began to label the murder as an honour killing, since Sürücü had received threats and reported them to police before she was killed.

Prosecution

In July 2005, the Berlin Public Prosecutor's office charged Sürücü's brothers with her murder. On September 14, 2005, Ayhan Sürücü, the youngest brother, confessed to murdering his sister. In April 2006, Ayhan was sentenced to nine years and three months in prison, and his two older brothers were acquitted of charges of conspiring to murder their sister. The prosecution appealed on a point of law at the Federal Court of Justice, the Bundesgerichtshof, immediately and the 5th criminal division of the Federal Court of Justice overturned the conviction and allowed the revision. A new criminal proceeding was to take place in August 2008. After completing his sentence on July 4, 2014, Ayhan Sürücü was released from prison and deported from Germany to Turkey.

Public outrage

Hatun Sürücü - Landschaftsfriedhof Berlin-Gatow

Sürücü's murder was the sixth incident of "honour" killing since October, 2004. On 22 February 2005, a vigil called by the Berlin Gay and Lesbian association was held at the scene of the crime, which was attended by about 100 Germans and Turks together. A second vigil, called for by German politicians and artists, was held on 24 February. Sürücü's murder, and several similar cases in Germany and elsewhere in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

have been cited by political opponents of

's admission to the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...

, as an example of disregard for

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

in the Turkish culture. Sürücü was of Kurdish descent. The Sürücü family's behaviour again sparked public outrage when Hatun's sister Arzu applied for custody of Hatun's six-year-old son Can, who has been living with a foster family in Berlin since the murder of his mother. Eight months later the district court of Berlin-Tempelhof rejected the request. Arzu Sürücü appealed this decision but the appeal was rejected. The public continues to demonstrate for Hatun on the anniversary of her death. Activists and citizens lay wreaths in her memory and campaign for help for girls who are faced with forced marriage and honour-related violence. Giyasettin Sayan, a Kurdish politician, complained that no Kurdish representatives were invited in demonstrations after Sürücü's murder, saying, "we are all from Turkey, but we are not all Turks."

Legacy

A bridge in Neukölln,

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

was named after the victim. Die Fremde ('' When We Leave'') was the first film released in 2010 inspired by the events. ''

A Regular Woman ''A Regular Woman'' (german: Nur eine Frau) is a 2019 German biographical film directed by Sherry Hormann. It is based on the life of Hatun "Aynur" Sürücü who was killed by her brother in an honor killing. Hormann stated that by 2019 people w ...

'', a film, was made about the crime. It was released in 2019.

References

External links