An Engagement and Its Consequences

Two young Berlin Turks are protesting against so-called honor killings. But along with strong interest from the media and positive reactions, the campaign is also producing tensions. Ariana Mirza talked with the people involved

photo: Güner Y. Balci — "Honor is to fight for my sister's freedom," the slogan on the campaign postcard says. Saithan is pictured on the left, Sinan on the right

At the beginning of 2005 Güner Y. Balci initiated a postcard campaign against the so-called honor killings in the Berlin girl club "MaDonna." The journalist approached young people and asked them if they would let themselves be photographed for the campaign. Seventeen-year-old Sinan and his sixteen-year-old friend Saithan immediately agreed.

They feel it is important to set an example publicly against violence and repression. "Honor is fighting for my sister's freedom!" reads the slogan on the postcard, of which 20,000 were printed and circulated at the beginning of 2005.

Award for civil courage

The boys did not inform their families. They assumed that their parents and relatives would not learn about it. But when the first article about the campaign appeared in the spring of 2005, media interest grew. In autumn Saithan and Sinan won the "Panther Prize" of the national newspaper "taz," an award for great civil courage.

The German and European press celebrated Saithan and Sinan as heroes, and diverse TV stations sent them invitations. An unaccustomed situation for the students. At the same time they were forced to deal with the ambivalent reactions of those around them for the first time.

The parents discovered what their sons were doing by chance, while they were appearing on a television show.

"Sinan's father thought Sinan was celebrating my birthday at my place," Saithan explains, "and my parents thought I was invited to a birthday party at Sinan's. Then they suddenly saw us on the television screen."

Saithan was lucky. His parents were not enthusiastic about their son's presence in the media, but they agreed with his engagement. "My mother is proud of me."

Suspicions about the public attention

Sinan's family's response was less positive. From the outset the parents were suspicious about the public attention. At present the father does not want his seventeen-year-old son to make any more statements to the press.

Sinan and Saithan are also having different experiences with their peers. In the school Saithan attends, the topic was treated thoroughly in class in the wake of the postcard campaign. His classmates, 70 percent of whom are from Arab and Turkish migrant families, share Saithan's rejection of forced marriages and honor killings. But Sinan, who attends another school, is being mobbed by some of his classmates.

"Because they don't really understand what it's about. They think he's saying that he doesn't care what his sister does."

"Honor killings and forced marriages are still a taboo subject in many migrant families," explains Güner Y. Balci, who is pleased about the scope of the discussion triggered by the project. Saithan's and Sinan's civil courage sends off a signal to their peers, she says.

"Boys in migrant families often live with constraints, as much as the girls do. It is extremely important that these young people see that it is possible to free themselves from those conventions that are wrong."

Future plans for more campaigns

This year the campaign, inspired by a similar campaign by Muslim youth in Sweden, will continue across Germany. In the future the postcards will also be printed in Arabic and Turkish and distributed selectively in male domains such as cafes and sports clubs. A poster campaign with the same theme is also being planned.

"We have to make it clear that these murders have nothing to do with religious duty." Many Muslims are not aware that forced marriages and honor killings come from archaic, pre-Islamic traditions.

A television feature about Saithan is being planned for this year, and Güner Y. Balci is involved in its realization. "We want to follow Saithan around in his everyday life, and take a look at the personal circumstances in which he and many young migrants grow up."

It remains to be seen how sixteen-year-old Saithan will hold up in front of the camera. He is reticent, even a bit shy. When asked if he'd like to continue to speak out against violence and injustice, he replies after thinking for a while: "Actually yes. I'd like that." His dream is to become lawyer. He wants to always speak out for justice.

Ariana Mirza

Translated from the German by Nancy Joyce

Qantara.de

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