Gendering Necropolitics: The Juridical-Political Sociality of Honor Killings in Turkey

This article maps some of the intersections between national legislations, jurisdictions, and tribal practices that have detrimental consequences for women in Turkey. The article argues that everyday practices of justice in line with juridico-political interests and the strategies of the sovereign state of Turkey protect traditional and customary practices, specifically honor killings and abandon women to violence. It discusses the ways in which juridico-political order of the state suspends the application of law in honor killing cases and does so by considering honor killing as an exception of the law and thus contributes to the continuation of this heinous crime. This article also examines the operation of biopolitical and necropolitical techniques of the tribal power that justify men's right to kill and to let die a woman in the name of honor. The analysis aims to contribute to discussion of the ways in which the patriarchal system reduces women to a bare life without the most basic of human rights-the right to life itself.