Newspaper coverage of traditional honour crimes in Turkey: Hürriyet, Radikal, Zaman newspapers between 2000-2006

Honour Crimes are one of the most problems of Turkey. They have been also seen especially in Muslum countries or in the Western countries in which the muslim migrants are living. But throughout the world, there are a lot of women have been killed by their Intimate partner or husband because of several reasons. There are several reasons relate to honour which cause to the honour crimes. The main reasons of honour crimes are unwanted pregnancy, maritel rape, early and forced mariage, losing virginity exc. .The woman?s sexuality is still taboo in Muslim countries.Women tried to realise their sexual and reproductive rights, becoming more vocal and advocating on numerous platforms.In this thesis, it has been aimed to research of newspaper coverage of honour crimes in Turkey. How media portray crimer and victim has implications for public perceptions and social policy. Whether the newspapers sign the social resources is important also because of its social tendency . Therefore, to better understand these portrayals and newspaper role about solution, this study content analyzes three nationally sample of newspapers, Hürriyet, Zaman and Radikal, 7 year period and compare datas of public researches in order to examine the implications of the discrepancies between coverage and social reality.Results show that, there are significant differences between newspaper?s data and other researchs, particularly about the regions, in which the most seen honour crimes. Newspapers generally show the East Region of Turkey as the regions of honour crimes but the other researches show that these crimes can be realised at everyside of Turkey, especially in Marmara.By portraying murder as an individual or relationship issue, it may be understood that the victims was blamed for their own victimization. Moreover, the relative lack of coverage of resources available in the community may exacerbate inability to receive help for the other women who are in risk of crime and need shelter. A few news , provided any information about the IPV resources such as hotline, web sites, shelters or other forms of victim services such as advocacy and counseling.Policymakers use the media to determine which issues the public cares about so media attention is important in gaining the attention at a policy level. İf the issues like honour crimes are not receiving much attention, policymakers could infer that the subject is not a top priority for the public.KEY WORDS:1.Culture2.Violence Against Women3.Honour Crimes4.Newspaper