PIPPA BACCA: DEAD BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
Fazä°Le Zahä°R Muä~^La

Today’s Zaman
April 20 2008
Turkey

Hrant Dink, a well-known Turkish-Armenian journalist, was the last
murder victim to inspire a mass reaction of sympathy from the Turkish
nation. His death was followed by demonstrators wearing placards saying
"We are all Hrant" to underline their empathy for and sympathy with
the man, his grieving family and the cause of the Armenian citizens
he represented.

Now the nation’s women have taken to the streets wearing similar
placards, but these say "We are Pippa."

Pippa Bacca was an Italian performance artist who decided to make
a public and personal plea for peace in areas of conflict. With her
friend Sylvia Moro, they designed wedding dresses and the two women set
out as "Brides on Tour" to hitchhike from Milan to Tel Aviv. Leaving
Italy on March 8 they proceeded with little trouble through Eastern
Europe and reached Ä°stanbul at the end of March. Here they decided
to take different paths across the country and meet up again in
Beirut. Pippa was in touch daily with family and friends by mobile
phone messages.

On March 31 these texts abruptly stopped. Her family raised the alarm
and her sister and fiancée flew to Turkey.

The Turkish police put a trace on Pippa’s phone’s unique IMEI
((International Mobile Equipment Identity) number and on Friday April
11 they caught truck driver Murat KabataÅ~_ after he used it. He
confessed to having picked Pippa up just outside the industrial
northern town of Gebze and to dumping her naked body in a shallow
grave after having raped and strangled her. In addition to her phone,
the Turkish police found parts of her necklace in the truck cabin and
her camera at his house. She had taken photos of all the people who had
offered her lifts — the final photo she had taken was of KabataÅ~_.

The reaction to the violation and brutal murder of this vibrant 33
year old has been enormous. The country was both embarrassed and
mournful. The Hurriyet newspaper ran a headline announcing "We are
ashamed" and Milliyet had one that said "Siamo Molto Addolorati"
(Our pain is great). Prime Minister Erdogan made a personal statement
that he was deeply saddened by the murder of such a remarkable
peace envoy and expressed gratitude to Pippa’s family who have been
highly benevolent in their press statements toward Turkey and Turks
in general.

Elena Manzoni, Pippa’s mother, has led her family through the crisis
and has, since the discovery of Pippa’s body late last week, been
very kind in all her comments: "We cannot blame all Turks for this
incident. No one could have predicted my daughter would encounter such
a maniac." Her sister, Antonietta Pasqualino, followed her mother’s
lead, adding that there were "bad people everywhere" and telling
interviewers that her sister "had been talking about Turkey a lot;
she was so impressed."

The family’s stoicism and their refusal to blame Turks for their
daughter’s death combined with the poignant image of the raped bride
dying for the cause of international peace have set the nation’s
imagination aflame. In a country of hopeless romantics, idealists
and dreamers Pippa Bacca may well have, in death, found her true
spiritual home.

The tributes have been fast in coming. On April 14 Gebze Mayor Ä°brahim
Pehlivan released a statement saying that council representatives
would be going to Ankara to offer an official apology on behalf of
their town to the Italian consulate and Pippa’s family. They were also
going to consult with the people of Gebze and either form a group to
finish her walk or erect a monument to peace in the town.

On April 15 a memorial service was held at the Italian consulate in
Ankara. Women’s groups in attendance carried signs saying "NO to the
rapist violence of men" and "Peace." Again on April 15, Hayrettin
Bulan, the head of Å~^efkat-Der, a group that runs a women’s shelter
and works on behalf of abused women, whose headquarters is in the
city of Konya, said: "We have given her the nickname Angel Pippa and
we are going to name one of our shelters after her. … She is an
angel in our eyes and we want to draw the whole world’s attention
to her message of peace and the fight against violence and rape of
women." On the same day 30 women from the city of Antalya’s Women’s
Parliament donned wedding gowns and veils and walked silently and in
single file through the main streets of their town, carrying banners
saying, "We are all ambassadors of peace." They demanded that all
women be safe and free to walk the streets and were applauded en route.

A day later Hurriyet columnist Mehmet Yılmaz wrote a piece calling on
Turkish women to come forward and finish Pippa’s walk and has already
sought the support of leading women’s magazine Elele. The magazine’s
editor has promised to provide wedding dresses and cover the expenses
of the journey. He believes that Pippa should be an inspiration. "What
if we were to transform Pippa’s ‘peace walk’ into the ‘freedom walk’
of Turkish women in our country? … Let’s get moving. Let’s stop just
feeling sorry. If we don’t take this opportunity to claim the right
for women to walk freely down streets and roads of this country now,
we never will!" Pippa’s own family has now flown her body home for
burial and is focusing its energy on bringing the now iconic wedding
gown back to Milan to be displayed in a memorial exhibition.

As well as bringing out the best in some people, the murder has
brought out the worst in others. Web site forums have been lively with
criticism of both Pippa and Turks. An article on ,
an online Israeli newspaper outlining Pippa’s intentions of
finishing her walk in Tel Aviv, has rampantly hostile comments,
including "Muslim barbarity strikes again against foreigners" and:
"It is clearly stated in their scriptures what Muslims are forced
to do to non-Muslims. Going to a Muslim country means you are
putting yourself in a life threatening situation," as well as
"Laugh out loud, that’s what you get when trying to make peace
with Muslims." Another Web site (for self-confessed skeptics),
<;, announced "Irony has a new name:
Pippa Bacca." The members of this forum accuse Pippa of being suicidal,
stupid, naive and gullible. "Her name, ‘Bacca,’ sounds just like
the Japanese word ‘Baka’ (idiot/fool). One can only hope news of her
death will prevent others from being so foolish" and: "I wonder what
her mental age was. No 33-year-old thinks that all you need is trust,
right? But if her mental age really was 33, what went wrong then?"

Groups that condemn both Pippa and the Turks are those who face the
future with pessimism. Pippa herself was a determined optimist,
willing to do more than just write on the "walls" of public Web
sites. The terrible truth of the story is that like most martyrs for
a cause, Pippa, through her death may have actually accomplished more
for peace than she would have, had her walk been completed without
incident. Her murder has sent a powerful message about peace and about
the continuing struggle of women for personal safety — she became
what she was demonstrating about a powerless player caught up in
the turmoil and violence of a stronger party. The reaction in Turkey
shows these people have the heart and soul to understand her message.

–Boundary_(ID_EelGyKCAfwbGiBzqT7jtWw)–