A father killed his 15-year-old daughter a decade ago and hid her body to 'restore the family honour' the Old Bailey heard today. Mehmet Goren, 49, murdered schoolgirl Tulay in a so-called 'honour killing' with the help of his two brothers Cuma, 42, and Ali, 55. Tulay, a student at Woodbridge High School in St Barnabas Road, Woodford Green, was last seen alive at her family home in Glastonbury Avenue, Woodford Green, in January 1999 but her body has never been found.
Ali of Brettenham Road, Walthamstow, the head of the Goren family in the UK, granted approval for the killing but did not take part, and Cuma of Evesham Avenue, Walthamstow, was involved in the disposal of the teenager's body. The three brothers are also accused of plotting to murder Tulay's boyfriend 30-year-old Halil Unal.
Prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw QC said: "In events such as this Mehmet's brothers shared responsibility with Tulay's father for the maintenance and restoration of the family honour. "As for the concealment of Tulay's body these men achieved that objective because even now, 10 years on, the police have not been able to find any trace of Tulay's remains.
"The label honour killing is in one sense an appalling and an entirely inappropriate way to describe an offence such as this because there is nothing honourable at all about the murder of a young woman carried out by members of her own family and such a title is almost to dignify the terrible act they did." He said such killings stemmed from the perceived need to defend the honour of the family.
The family come from the town of Elbistan in south eastern Turkey, a mainly Kurdish area and there is divide between the Alevi Kurds and the Sunni Muslims who are the majority. He added: "A family's honour reflects the control men exercise over women and their sexuality and the respect a man holds within a community", he added.
Mehmet Goren, of Navestock Crescent, Woodford Green, Cuma Goren, and Ali Goren, deny the murder of Tulay on January 7 1999. They further deny a conspiracy to murder Halil Unal, now 41, between May 1 1998 and February 2 1999. The trial continues. Source - Europe News Ilford Recorder
