Güldünya publishing house was named after Güldünya Tören, who was murdered by her brothers in 2004.
Her brothers shot Güldünya Tören in the middle of the street, and they killed her in the hospital where she was treated.
Güldünya publishing house publishes not only books on feminist theory and politics
but also about the experiences feminist movements and different feminist organizations around the world,
women’s biographies and experiences, works of women writers, and books about women artists.
Güldünya Tören
Güldünya Publishing House is named after Güldünya Tören, who was born in 1982 in Bitlis, Turkey, and was killed at the age of 22 by her brothers in the hospital on the ground that she has given birth to an illegitimate child.
Güldünya Tören became pregnant after one of her relatives raped her. Thereafter, the family council gathered and decided to kill Güldünya Tören because of her pregnancy. The murder was committed by the youngest men in the family. It is common for honor crimes to choose the youngest male members of the family to commit the murder so that murderers receive shorter punishment because of his young age.
After the family council’s decision, Gülrünya Tören fled to Istanbul and got help from her relatives there. However, her brother found Güldünya Tören even in İstanbul and they shot her in the middle of a street. She was hospitalized. Twelve hours later, she was killed by her brothers in front of the doctors, nurses, and even the police. Celalettin Cerrah, the Istanbul Police Chief of the period, claimed that the police did not neglect any kind of incident. Tören’s mother said at the funeral, “I could not oppose the tribe or my sons.” The women who attend the funeral watched the burial in silence and from a distance.
Her son’s name is Umut, which means hope in Turkish. Maybe she just wanted to be hopeful after all, who knows…
There is only one photo left of her: in a wedding dress and with a baby in her arms. Güldünya left us her name with our anger at the men who murder, oppress, and exploit women …