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WALTHAM FOREST: Councillor urges honour-based violence victims to ask for help

10:33am Saturday 19th December 2009 in


A LEADING councillor is urging women in abusive relationships to contact the authorities for help following the conviction of Mehmet Goren for killing his 15-year-old daughter.

Goren, 49, of Navestock Crescent, Woodford Green, was this week jailed for life for murdering his daughter Tulay to protect his family “honour”.

Two of the girl's uncles, Cuma Goren, 43, of Evesham Avenue, Walthamstow, and Ali Goren, 56, of Brettenham Road, Walthamstow, were acquitted.

Afzal Akram, the council's cabinet member for community safety, welcomed Goren's conviction.

Cllr Akram said: “There is no honour in killing a member of your own family and the whole community will be absolutely horrified that the defendant believed this was an acceptable and appropriate punishment to mete out on a young and defenceless teenager.”

Cllr Akram's comments come just weeks after a refuge for women at risk of honour-based violence or forced marriage opened in the borough.

The Saranaya refuge is only the second of its kind and both refuges are run by the Ashiana Network in Waltham Forest.

Cllr Akram said: “We are working exceptionally hard with our partners to eradicate this issue and that of forced marriage in Waltham Forest.

“I would urge anyone who is worried about their own safety or that of a friend or family member to contact the police or the council and we will arrange for them to receive the help and support they need to escape from an abusive relationship.”

For more information about Ashiana visit www.ashiana.org.uk

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Comments(9)

inézc says...
1:35pm Sat 19 Dec 09

I am pleased to see that this is being given headline space; there is absolutely no honour in killing anybody- indeed the reverse is true. Anybody who feels they, a relative or a member of their family is at risk, either of an "honour killing" or of forced marriage is urged to contact Asiana Project or Karma Nirvana, another excellent organisation. There cannot be a repeat of the Tulay Goren case, and as Jasvinder Sanghara who founded Karma Nirvana said in her excellent article in the Times yesterday, we cannot allow misplaced cultural sensitivity to stop us acting against forced marriage or "honour killing". I woiuld be happy to provide information to anybody so affected.

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Techno2 says...
5:08pm Sat 19 Dec 09

I wonder if the councillor would like to comment on all the money which has been stolen and misappropriated through circumvention of anti-fraud protections from the lcoal authority. The Indepedent Panel report indicates that there are people in positions of power, who may have been protecting the thieves. Maybe councillor Akram would tell us what he knows? Would he like to condemn these thefts from the very poorest people in the borough by officers at the local authority and their aiders and abetters and maybe tell us what he knows about where the people have to go to get their money back? Is he going to ensure all the missing money, from the poor funds and the education budget will be paid back? Will he confirm that there is no place in public life for corruption and councillors who have protected the miscreants?

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inézc says...
8:23pm Sat 19 Dec 09

Techno2, I agree with you but what has that got to do with forced marriage and honour killing?

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UKIP-local says...
9:24am Sun 20 Dec 09

Honour killing is completely alien to the established culture in Britain and so is the practice of arranged marriages and restricting the range of friends and activities which so often lead up to killings.

The answer must be to integrate into our established culture all who seek to permanently live here. That does not mean we all have to be the same, think the same or follow the same religion or any religion. It does mean we all share a common respect for the same law and customs.

There is strong evidence that a primary reason why many new comers chose the UK is because it has been a liberal tolerant and secure place; let's hope we can regain that circumstance soon, for all our sakes.

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Techno2 says...
12:44pm Sun 20 Dec 09

inézc wrote:
Techno2, I agree with you but what has that got to do with forced marriage and honour killing?
A man who apparently is happy to associate himself with the 'unnamed persons' and the bunch of crooks who are being protected by them, who have been stealing from the people of this borough for years goes around posturing on issues relating to crime, saying there is no honour' in killing. Of course there isn't. It doesn't take Akram to say that. But there is also no honour in thefts from the poor fund and the education budget or the systematic circumvention of anti-fraud protection in the local authority. What 'honour' do any of our councillors have, espevcially those who claim the dubious title of 'leading councillors' for themselves? Until all the miscreants have been prosecuted, the money recovered and those who have aided and abetted them driven from public life - None.

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Robert19 says...
8:43pm Sun 20 Dec 09

Techno2 wrote:
inézc wrote:
Techno2, I agree with you but what has that got to do with forced marriage and honour killing?
A man who apparently is happy to associate himself with the 'unnamed persons' and the bunch of crooks who are being protected by them, who have been stealing from the people of this borough for years goes around posturing on issues relating to crime, saying there is no honour' in killing. Of course there isn't. It doesn't take Akram to say that. But there is also no honour in thefts from the poor fund and the education budget or the systematic circumvention of anti-fraud protection in the local authority. What 'honour' do any of our councillors have, espevcially those who claim the dubious title of 'leading councillors' for themselves? Until all the miscreants have been prosecuted, the money recovered and those who have aided and abetted them driven from public life - None.
Techno2 Every time a Waltham Forest councillor says something you detract from that message by going off at a total tangent about fraud and bunch of crooks. This story has nothing to do with that. It is about the murder of a girl by her father for the sake of some kind of so called family 'honour'. This is a very sad story and Cllr Akram is highlighting the need to report these crimes and to seek help before other women are murdered. By all means point out Council incompetences, but use the right stories please.

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marsh warbler says...
3:51pm Mon 21 Dec 09

Well, I for one am very glad that Cllr Akram has voiced his condemnation of this shocking case in particular and the practice of 'honour' violence and killing in general. Muslim leaders (or leaders who happen to be Muslim) are all too aften accused (yes, even in this enlightened forum!) of ignoring or fudging uncomfortable issues or acting as apologists. I don't think Cllr Akram could have been any more explicit or unequivocal in his statement and I wlecome it. Whilst I entirely understand (and to a degree share) Techno2's anger at recent exposures of council sleaze, I must agree with inézc and Robert19 that it is not helpful to conflate issues in this way. Selective and focused anger is usually more effective than scattergun.

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faro0485 says...
5:57am Tue 22 Dec 09

Most of those who wouldn't come forward, such as muslims, aren't going to associate themselves with an organization that only caters for "South Asian, Turkish and Iranian women", that is... an organization that caters according to race and a single gender.

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marsh warbler says...
4:38pm Tue 22 Dec 09

Sorry, faro0485, you've lost me here. What are you on about?

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