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The
Turkish Bizarre
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Originally published under the title, "Being 'Protected'
in Turkey."
Turkish
members of parliament in a brawl on February 17
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If Turkey were a person instead of a country, law enforcement
authorities would probably require it to have psychiatric therapy.
Pundits are asking: "What has become of us?" Good question. No
one has offered a good answer.
Earlier this month about 70 members of parliament spoke at a special
parliamentary session. Each speaker, from government or opposition seats,
condemned the widespread violence against women in the country. The
audience applauded every speaker, from government or opposition seats.
There was peace in the house. Three hours after the session closed, the
deputies gathered to debate a controversial security bill. Chaos ensued
as a brawl
broke out. The session ended after five MPs were hospitalized.
The fighting broke out after two Kurdish female MPs (opposition)
walked to the speaker's bench to protest an alleged breach of house
rules. When asked to explain the bruises the women had shown to
journalists, a senior government deputy, Mustafa Elitas said:
"They beat themselves up."
Istanbul
parliamentarian Ismet Ucma of the ruling AKP believes that Turkish soap
operas are causing the country's rape epidemic.
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You wonder why rape has become a social malady in Turkey? Ask your
government MP and he will explain. Ismet Ucma from the ruling Justice and
Development Party (AKP) has blamed
popular Turkish soap operas for the visible rise in rape cases and
argued that "such series are ruining the nature of the Turkish
family structure." In earlier remarks, Ucma had proposed that
couples should get a "license" in order to get married; and
that local residents should act to "protect the honor of their
neighborhoods."
The Turks indeed protect their neighborhoods in bizarre ways. A shopkeeper
in Istanbul stabbed Nuh Koklu, a journalist, in the chest and killed
him because a snowball had hit his window. Several hours before being
murdered, the journalist had bought cat food from the same shop.
Apparently, it was not just a petty crime committed by an insane
shopkeeper. Last November, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tasked shop
owners with "protecting their neighborhoods and the country
themselves":
Tradesmen and craftsmen are not people
involved in economic activity ... in our civilization and in our national
soul, [they] are soldiers if needed; they are martyrs, veterans, and
heroes who protect their country when needed. [They are] police who
restore public peace when needed; [they are] the judges who provide
justice.
The shop owner who stabbed the journalist Koklu to death proved how
"heroic" Turkish tradesmen can be. Tradesmen soldiers at your
orders, Mr. President!
Friends
and relatives of journalist Nuh Koklu place snowballs and pens on his
coffin last month.
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Apparently, it is not only Turkish shop owners who can act as the
soldiers of an Islamist government. The vice-principal of a high school
in southern Turkey caused loud laughter and embarrassment when she
suggested creating "harassment
teams" in her school to prevent female students from wearing
short skirts.
News
reports said that the vice-principal of a high school in Antalya
province proposed, at a meeting with class presidents, that "male
students could follow girls who wear short skirts to make them feel
uncomfortable, after which the girl students would eventually have to
dress 'properly.'" The proposal was then debated at a teachers'
meeting after some class presidents told other teachers about the idea.
At the meeting with other teachers, the vice-principal admitted having
made the suggestion and defended the idea.
The head of the local teachers union accused the vice-principal of
encouraging students to commit crimes. He said: "Female students are
being targeted. Principals and deputy principals do not have the right to
say such things. Telling male students to 'harass' amounts to
provocation."
The good news was that the vice-principal, after having hit the
headlines in the secular (not pro-government) media, was
"punished" by the city's education authorities. The bad news
was that her punishment was merely a reassignment
to another school in the same city where she will be "teaching
German language."
"Is this the way you punish a teacher with eccentric ideas, or
the students at the school she will now be teaching?" asked a
European ambassador in Ankara, looking puzzled.
Turkey is becoming an increasingly bizarre place to live in. Imagine a
country where taking public transport or merely going to school
(especially for young women), or playing with snowballs in the street
(for everyone) or just being an opposition member of parliament can be
categorized as high-adrenaline sports of extreme danger.
Burak Bekdil, based in Ankara, is
a columnist for the Turkish daily Hürriyet and a fellow at the Middle East
Forum.
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