http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/16/world/europe/16turkey.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

I read this a while ago it was published in 2006.  My boyfriend is from Batman so I tried to learn as much about the place as possible.  Trudy also put up this link in another thread, http://www.channel4.com/programmes/unreported-world/episode-guide/series-2009/episode-3

I think this is the same one I watched a few months ago, couldn´t bring myself to watch it again to check, if it is, Batman is also featured.  They mention that Batman has been nicknamed suicide city because of the unbelievably high rates of ´suicide´ among young women/girls

Thanks for the links.  I am all to aware of what happens to young girls and even older ones.  Its extremely disturbing and should be outlawed.  More exposure is needed and safe places for these women to go.  I will visit the east this year for 3 weeks.  I will be with others; thankfully.  If I saw this going on I would/could not ignore it!  I can see me now sneaking into the room where a girl maybe at risk and stealing her away to safety!  I hope and pray for a better life for these girls/women.

I agree, this is a very disturbing reading. But this is how it is. I guess the feeling of being the first gives men satisfaction. And I do not want to generalize here. Not all men are like that. I am originally coming from a culture where virginity is a MUST for a girl. You would think in 21st century something should have changed. But it hasn´t. And it is not certain when it will change IF it will change at all.

I am only concerned for those women/girls that are at risk due to not having any support from anyone. They seem defenceless. I am even more worried when I hear family members; including mothers, ignoring this or denying when questioned that they knew what was going on after their child is murdered.

I do not wish to offend those who are not like this.  I believe this happens all over the world.  I welcome more documentaries, news reports and women coming forward.  I would support them no matter what!

When those oppressed girls grow up they give birth to and bring up people who keep opressing their own daughters. Nothing will change. My advice for our compassionate forumers is that they should divert their love and caring to some useful cause. Such as animals in poor condition, who are completely innocent and have no fault in the condition that they are in.

 Do you know where to find a version of this with English subtitles?  Ive watched a bit in Turkish, and I can understand whats going on just by watching, but id like to know whats been said aswell!

And yes I agree, these girls are, most of the time, left to fend for themselves, some lucky ones manage to runaway, but face a life hiding in safe houses! There are some organisations there to help these girls, but I wish more could be done!

if children are just replica of parents - how do changes happen in this world?!?!

whom are you helping? whom have you helped already?

Good questions, raindrops!

The keywords here are "gradual" and "self induced". I don´t think grabbing all those girls from their families and placing them in special facilities will create a healthier society, which is the only instantenous solution I can think of. In these kinda topics people always miss one point; "Töre" is a cultural, even national identity for those people. They cherish it, they don´t want you to meddle, intervention creates even more grief. They will have to grow out of it, gradually. I know you people are upset and concerned but do not lose your sleep over it, there is not much you can do. It will still be rampant by the end of your lifespan, I´m afraid.

Look, it´s not okay to hurt girls because they are not virgins...

BUT... In most religions, they say you should stay a virgin until you are married. If religion is important for you, and you want to follow your religion strictly, as a girl you also want to stay a virgin. And as a boy you should also want to stay a virgin and only marry a virgin. This is not a Eastern Turkish thing, it happens in, for example, the U.S. to with Christian kids even wearing rings to show that they want to stay virgins (look at the jonas brothers )

There´s nothing wrong with wanting to marry a virgin, if you are very religious. The problems arise in the hypocritic ideas that boys can mess around while the girls should stay virgins. They arise with downgrading an entire girl by taking the virginity thing out of context, and making it a "don´t talk to boys" thing. And the BIG problem arises when people think they can enforce their hypocrit ideas with force.

This makes it difficult to deal with this problem. Because, often people start to say things like "is being a virgin really that important" and the answer to that in some cases is YES, it is. The focus seems to divert, and it seems to become some ideological agruement between "Forced virginity" vs. "12-year old de-flowering". The key is to point out how wrong it is to hurt girls or limit their freedom of own choice in life.

It will never change with this kind of attitude.  I care for humans and animals but will not stop caring about those who are also defenceless through no fault of their own.  I believe this will become less of a problem in the future through education programmes etc.  Also if no one cared for you in a situation you could not control and were facing death; would you not want someone to help you out??