Turkey’s Culture Wars

By admin-s On Jul 23, 2014

Just like their counterparts who were forced to discard their head scarves so many years ago, uncovered Turkish women are feeling uncomfortable and unwanted in their own country.

Elif Shafak, NYT

Residents walking through the conservative Fatih neighborhood here were used to seeing a billboard with the Brazilian actress and model Adriana Lima advertising a hair-removal product — until, one recent day, she appeared in a full burqa. Someone had covered Lima head to toe in black spray. Next to the image, a mysterious hand had scrawled: “Do not commit indecency!”

All over Istanbul, billboards displaying women’s bodies were similarly vandalized, triggering spirited debates about the female form in public space. When I used my Twitter feed to condemn the vandalism, which I see as a form of censorship, the feedback from female followers was heated.

“This has nothing to do with censorship,” posted a young woman who wore a head scarf. “It’s a necessary undertaking to save the men from eye adultery.” It didn’t take long for another woman to respond: “Well, I am not going to cover myself so that your men can feel pious.”

It’s not the first time billboards with models have sparked controversy in Turkey. In 2007, the leading swimwear manufacturers complained that they were not allowed to hang billboards with female models in municipalities ruled by the Justice and Development Party, known by its Turkish initials A.K.P. The Turkish media called it the “swimwear ban.” Zeki Baseskioglu, the head of the Zeki Triko Company, even published a photo of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk — the founder of modern Turkey — in a bathing suit to protest the restriction. Underneath was printed, “We miss the sun.”

Today, there are rumors that, just as in 2007, ads for leading world brands are being censored. The daily newspaper Hurriyet ran an interview with an anonymous official admitting that the legs of models are chopped off in photos to meet municipal standards. The daily Sozcu pointed out that in Istanbul, there isn’t a single billboard where one can see in full a female model sporting a bathing suit.

Turkey is replete with political confrontations and cultural clashes, and way too often, unfortunately, the battleground is women’s bodies. Men of all political persuasions feel free to lecture women on how to dress and how to live.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has given speeches urging every Turkish woman to give birth to at least three children, and the government provides interest-free loans to young couples to encourage early marriage. But female university students who get married and have children are less likely to join the work force after graduation.