ZULFINAN Baycinar died from a bullet in her back. Her husband's family went into mourning for the 27-year-old's "tragic suicide". She was very happy, they said; they can't imagine what got into her.

Who do they think they are fooling? Her husband wanted to take a second wife. She dared to fight the idea. And so she shot herself in the back? No, it is yet another honor killing from the Religion of Peace that so exalts and protects their women.

The increase in suicides follows a change in Turkish law a year ago to increase to life imprisonment the punishment for family members who carry out so-called honour killings.

This year 36 women are said to have attempted suicide in the region, more than all of last year.

"The general suicide rate in Turkey is actually low compared to the rest of the world, but the nature of these deaths is very different," Ms Erturk said. "Whereas worldwide there are about three to four times as many male suicides as female, in Batman, in Turkey, for instance, it is quite the reverse."

Until the laws changed, men who killed their female kin for reasons of honour or tradition were treated leniently. Often, a young brother, a minor, would own up to the murder and be let off with little more than a slap on the wrist.

Now the stakes are higher, women's groups believe that the errant women are being told: "Here's a gun or here's some poison, go and kill yourself so I don't have to go to prison for it." If they don't comply, they are killed anyway and declared to have committed suicide after a bout of depression.