Honour killing story: Canan Yüksel (2008)

Canan Yüksel
Born: 1979
Attempted murder: September 4, 2008
Residence: Cologne
Origin: Turkey
Children: she has a 7 year old daughter
Perpetrator: her ex-boyfriend Davut Y., Turkish Kurd, at the time of the crime 43 years

With this honor killing, it remains an attempted murder. The case is nevertheless found in this archive, because in the courtroom the perpetrator explicitly mentions honor as a motive.

In 2005, Canan and Davut get to know each other through the Internet. He lives in Turkey, is married there and has three children. Canan lives in Cologne with her parents. They begin a long-distance relationship.

In January 2007, Canan meets another man and ends her relationship with Davut. Davut does not want to accept this. He comes to Germany and asks for asylum. Then at night he lies in Cologne-Kalk waiting for his ex-girlfriend and stabs her in front of her door. Her father comes to her rescue. Possibly he was also threatened by Davut. The Kurdish Turk is also said to have terrorized the family in the months before the crime.

The perpetrator later turns himself in to the police with a lawyer. In June 2009, the trial for attempted murder begins. In the courtroom, Davut says, "I don't want her to belong to anyone else. For me, that has something to do with honor." He goes on to say that the victim's family would reject him because of his Kurdish heritage - not because he is married and has 3 children.

At the end of June, the district court in Cologne sentenced him to 5 years and 3 months in prison for attempted manslaughter.

What is an honour killing?

An honour killing is a murder in the name of honour. If a brother murders his sister to restore family honour, it is an honour killing. According to activists, the most common reasons for honour killings are as the victim:

refuses to cooperate in an arranged marriage.
wants to end the relationship.
was the victim of rape or sexual assault.
was accused of having a sexual relationship outside of marriage.

Human rights activists believe that 100,000 honour killings are carried out every year, most of which are not reported to the authorities and some are even deliberately covered up by the authorities themselves, for example because the perpetrators are good friends with local policemen, officials or politicians. Violence against girls and women remains a serious problem in Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Iran, Serbia and Turkey.