Güldünya, a symbol of honor killings: Her story will be told once more on stage

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Güldünya Tören, killed in 2004 by family members at the age of 22, is a symbol of honor killings ever since in Türkiye.

Güldünya became pregnant after being raped by a relative. Her large family/tribe decided that she should leave the village and be the second wife of the aggressor, which she did not accept.

She escaped her brother trying to kill her once taking refuge at the police station. She gave birth to her baby, who was then given up for adoption.

Soon after Güldünya was shot by her elder brothers on the street and taken to a hospital. 12 hours later she was killed by her brother who came to the hospital.

An association doing voluntary work for children and women (Önce Çocuklar ve Kadınlar Derneği/First Children and Women Association) and the Namütenahi theater group will be telling Güldünya's story once more on stage.

The play, called "Öz" was written by Sinem Nazlı Demir. It will be staged first time on Saturday, November 26, on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women in Kadıköy, İstanbul.

Lawyer Müjde Tozbey, the chairperson of First Children and Women Association said Sinem Nazlı Demir, both the writer and a player of Öz, was a journalist also and that as a correspondent of Cumhuriyet daily newspaper she had reported on the struggle and the law cases of their association many times.

Tozbey says that the play is also the story of the women whose news we are not even reading in the papers. It is a play that says to the women "the story told is your story." She says, "because we know that violation of rights of one woman interests all of us. She is inviting all to the play to be staged on November 26 in Nazım Hikmet Culture Center in Kadıköy.

The relative who raped Güldünya and escaped in the course of the events was killed by Güldünya's father in 2011.

The blood feud between the two families lasted until a family truce in 2013.

Güldünya's funeral praying was performed 9 years after she was killed. A peace agreement was signed at that time between the two families also promising that they will not resort to violence against women and that they will have the girls have an education.

Her brother who killed her died in prison while her father was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Many songs were written for Güldünya. Some of them were collected in an album called Güldünya songs.

Sezen Aksu singing Güldünya written by Aylin Aslim / Sunay Özgür

(ED/HA/PE)