BERLIN, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Berlin lawyer Seyran Ates is among a handful of Muslim women leaders waging a high-profile campaign against domestic violence in Germany's ethnic-immigrant communities. The subject has electrified the nation following reports this year that six Muslim women were victims of honor killings in Berlin alone. The daughter of Turkish immigrants, Ates, 42, is the author of a 2003 autobiography, "Great Journey into Fire." She spoke with United Press International correspondent Elizabeth Bryant in Berlin about her work and life.

UPI: What's the meaning of great journey into fire?

ATES: Journey into fever -- or fire -- is my life. It's a translation of my name. Seyran means to go on vacation. Ates means fire or fever. And my work is kind of a journey into fire. Because I handle issues which are very dangerous, which break taboos. And people see it as playing with fire. But in my opinion, it's not playing with fire but going through fire. I get out every time.

Q; How is being a single mother like yourself viewed by the Turkish community in Germany?

A: For me it's not a problem. People know me as a women's fighter, as an anticipated women. So living alone with my baby [Ates has a 16-month-old daughter] is simply another proof that I'm different. But it's not traditional, not normal.

Q: What do your parents think about your work?

A: I grew up in a very repressed household. I'd go to school, go home and have to do a lot of housework. It was a typical, traditional Turkish family. So many things were forbidden because I was a female.

But in school I learned about freedom and gender democracy. So early on, I started thinking about women's rights and fighting against the system. Before I was 18, I decided to run away from home.

Now, my parents love my work. They are my biggest fans today.

Q: Was it difficult in the beginning?

A: I did women's rights works before I started studying. I was involved in a women's project when somebody shot me in 1984 [at a women's shelter in Berlin]. It was an attack against the project, not against me personally. I was shot in the neck. The big artery was cut. It's a wonder I'm alive. I lost some years. It took six years [of physical therapy] before I could return to my studies. I didn't become a lawyer until 1997.

Q: Why do your clients come to you?

A: They come because they can't stand it anymore. The violence is so high, and they've stood it for so many years until they can't stand it anymore.

Q: Is there a typical profile of a woman who comes to you?

A: I also have German women clients who are also victims of domestic violence. But the typical Muslim immigrant client comes from Turkey later than her man. She doesn't speak German. Most of these marriages are arranged or forced. Even arranged marriages aren't free.

Q: How do you help them?

A: I can help them get a divorce. I can help them find a shelter. And I can go to court to bar the men from stalking these women. And if they have children I can help them get their children [from the men].

Q: A lot of these immigrant women may not be educated, or speak German. Realistically, what kind of future do they have? And how many agree to seek divorce?

A: Most of them who come to me -- 90 percent -- go to court and get a divorce. They ask for help [from the government] to create new lives for themselves and their children. But the government isn't a big help. We don't have places that are specialized in the issue of forced or arranged marriages.

These women have never learned how to stand on their own feet, to decide for themselves -- even on things like going to the movies. We have women who are in their 30s, who've never taken a walk by themselves. And now they have to decide how to create a new life for themselves. Rent a house, buy furniture, send their children to school. Their whole lives they've done this within their family. And now they have to learn from scratch.

Q: Where is the trend heading? Have Turkish women in Germany obtained more rights in recent years - or less?

A: I wrote my first autobiography when I was 20 [titled: "Where we Belong To," published in 1983] Because that was the question of my life at the time -- where do we belong? In Germany or Turkey? I wrote this book to show Germans how badly Turkish women live, how repressed we are.

I published my second book 20 years later [in 2003]. Things have changed so little for Muslim women in Germany that I was very angry about the situation. That was the reason I wrote the book. In fact it's getting worse because we have an increasingly powerful Islamic movement -- like in France, Netherlands and Britain.

Some Turkish women have careers, good education, everything. But it's a small minority. A large number of women in the Turkish community lead very traditional, conservative and repressed lives. There are more headscarves -- you can see it on the streets.

Things are ripe for change. In the future, I think the situation for Turkish women will improve.

Q: there's been a lot of talk about honor killings in Berlin. How many have there been recently?

A: We've had six since September 2004. It's not as if we've had more in the last year, than the years before. The rate has been about the same for last 20 years. But it's only now that we're talking about it -- after September 11.

Q: Why since September 11?

A: Because everybody's talking about Islam. Everybody's talking about a parallel society. We talk about Muslim women and their rights with Afghanistan. We went to war in Afghanistan partly to help women.

Q: Has your work as a lawyer ever involved honor killings?

A: No. I have a lot of women who hear that message -- "I will kill you" -- from their men. I'd guess 90 percent of my cases involve clients whose men say, "if you go to court I will kill you." But fortunately I haven't lost a client.

Q: what's been the reaction to your book within the Muslim community?

A: Mixed. Some people agree with me. A lot of women tell me that I've written their story. But there are Turkish people who say my books are bad for integration -- because if we talk about the bad aspects of the Turkish community, Germans will use that against us. They will say we are not a civilized people, and cannot learn democracy.

But recently I see an interesting development. Young Turkish men approach me on the streets to tell me I'm doing a good job. They say: "Take care. What you are doing is dangerous but it's a very good job for all of us" I hear this more and more from young Turks and Arabs -- and not only women.