A mysterious and dramatic increase in suicides by females in southeast Turkey follows a change in the law criminalising so-called "honour killings".  Before the change, a man who killed a female relative because the woman was thought to have brought dishonour on the family could expect lenient treatment from the authorities.  Now, however, the law calls for life imprisonment in such cases.  So, women are being pressured into killing themselves or murdered anyway and alleged to have committed suicide.

Zulfinan Baycinar died from a bullet in her back. Her husband’s family went into mourning for the 27-year-old’s “tragic suicide”. She was very happy, they said, they can’t imagine what got into her.

But now Baycinar’s husband is on trial for murder. Prosecutors say she was killed because she dared to oppose against her husband’s wish to take a second wife, refusing to bow to tradition and know her place.

So far this year there have been more reported suicide attempts in the area than were seen in all of last year.