Through my childhood years, both parents became alcoholics and abusive to me verbally and physically. By default, I became their caretaker and my brother’s. “They give us crumbs for love,” my brother would say, and I would hug him through his stuttering speech brought about by the trauma of parents in the bottle.
In the beginning, in the beginning of our marriage, well, who knew? He was kind, generous, intelligent and even loving. But later I would discover there was a dark side lurking which he cleverly disguised. I never knew what would bring it out nor how to stem its tide.
A startling number of “honor suicides” has emerged in Turkey. This is a process whereby a woman who ostensibly shamed her family, chooses to commit suicide under pressure from her family so they may avoid penalties for murdering her.
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