I agree Xollence in the regard that guilt of OTHER parties, whether more or less, does not excuse in any way immoral actions under any circumstances. I must say, however, that I didn't see anything to the effect that the Turkish government condones these honor killings, but rather that it is a dirty old tradition that is unfortunately still happening today.

It seems that these crimes are mostly being perpetrated by old-school rural citizens, so what the Turkish are seeing is probably similar to what the US saw in the deep south in the 60s onwards. Even though the legislation had reformed, crimes of racial prejudice continued to occur at very high levels, never totally disappearing. There are still KKK-dominated areas in Georgia, etc in the 21st century!

One parallel in all of these unfortunate situations, is that the offenders almost always show no remorse, and believe fully that what they are doing is right .. usually for reasons of 'tradition' or 'honor'. Religion (often the misinterpreted messages that are spewed by twisted, hateful leaders) is the core of many of these criminal's belief systems that they base this behaviour upon.

In the end, it is the lack of education, and the propensity of the human spirit to foster a bitter and committed hatred for one another that makes such horrors possible. Humanity has beaten, starved, tortured, raped, persecuted, and murdered one another for it's entire history with a bloodthirsty vengeance .. it will never stop .. only reduce gradually .. that's all we can hope for.