It is no wonder that Turkish soap operas — depicting a range of issues
from equality between the sexes and the empowerment of women, to liberal
lifestyles and contemporary forms of leisure — are so popular in the
Middle East, where millions are clamoring for more equality and
modernity in their lives.
But true life experiences and debates are much more relevant for the
region than mere products of fiction, and Turkey certainly has no
shortage of these, as the latest heated debate concerning the “morality
of pregnancy” — which has been raging for days — clearly demonstrates.
It all began when
Omer Tugrul Inancer,
an Islamist lawyer and commentator on religion, asserted on the
state-owned television network TRT that it was shameful for pregnant
women to go out on the streets. He was speaking during a special Ramadan
talk show broadcast just before
iftar on July 26.
“Declaring your pregnancy with drums is against our understanding of
decency. You cannot walk on the streets with such bellies. To get a bit
of fresh air, a woman in the seventh or eighth month of her pregnancy
can go around a little in her husband’s car in the late afternoon,”
Inancer, who is also known to Islamic circles as an expert on Sufi
mysticism, said. He went on to add that despite this, pregnant women of
all shades are to be seen everywhere in Turkey nowadays, including on
television, and added, “This is shameful, shameful! This is not realism,
this is vulgarity.”
The outcry following Inancer’s remarks was instant with women from all
walks of life protesting him. Protesters included pregnant women and
their husbands as well as women and men feigning pregnancy and
prominently displaying distended bellies. Most of the demonstrators saw
Inancer’s remarks as more evidence of creeping Islamism in Turkey under
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development
Party (AKP).
Government circles and AKP supporters insist, of course, that Inancer’s
remarks have nothing to do with them. Given the way Turkey has become
divided along secularist and Islamist lines under the AKP, however, it
seems almost inevitable that the finger of blame should be pointing at
the government.
Inancer poured more fuel on the debate later, when he not only stood by
his remarks, but added that the ugly sight of pregnant women was
putting young girls off the idea of pregnancy. Not surprisingly, the
topic went instantly viral on Twitter under #direnhamile (meaning
“pregnant women resist”). This was clearly inspired by “#direngezi”
(meaning “Gezi resist”), the battle cry for the recent Gezi Park
protests. One highly popular Twitter post read “Down with pregnant
women, long live storks!”
While the topic became the No. 1 social issue in Turkey overnight, it
was clear that women on the Islamist side of the fence were not too
pleased over Inancer’s remarks either. Ozlem Zengin Topal, a lawyer and
the head of the AKP’s women organization in Istanbul, for example, said
she also found Inancer’s remarks disturbing. “Of course pregnant women
can go on the streets. It is their natural right,” she said.
But trying to deflect some of the anger away from Inancer — who is
highly respected among Islamists — Topal nevertheless felt the need to
add that she did not think the debate he had started was about pregnancy
itself, but the manner in which some pregnant women dress.
Editorial note: Its high time the political establishment calls a spade a spade: Turks
voted Erdogan in power and only Turks can vote the man out of power. God
forbid that the already decapitated military does a coup, which would even put Turkey in a more precarious state.
It also seems
totally illogical for the EU to continue negotiating with
a government which does not respect human rights, privacy freedom of the press and now wants to
degenerate women by conspicuously installing Sharia Law - unless was
instructed by its Anglo-American leadership to do so. - which is far
more likely.
After all isn't Mr.Gulen who has been the guiding example for Mr. Erdogan's policies also a US protege? Bottom - line
remains - Turks have got to clean-up their act.
EU-Digest
