Turkish Politics

At 23 years of age, I’ve heard many many stupid things in my life, yet NOTHING tops the stuff I hear from Erdogan’s mouth! Turkish politics make me so angry. And I very rarely, like ever, get angry. Traffic, rude customers, being put on hold on the phone whilst they play really really annoying music, rainy London weather, or even the never-ending line at the post office. None of these things make me as angry as Turkish politics. 

 I have many issues with the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Long story short – I don’t like him. Why you ask? 

Fair enough the man might have done some good for Turkey economically since becoming Prime Minister, however fast forward eleven years and the only good thing the man has done for Turkey is to accomplish economic growth. Some may even argue that he has been known for nothing besides being a dictator. In the recent years, Erdogan has pushed his conservative Islamic policies forward, trying to take over Ataturk’s modern Turkey. Turkey has come a long way thanks to Ataturk, he helped transform Turkey in so many great ways. Ataturk accomplished many things for women. He respected women, unlike Erdogan. Erdogan has always let his thoughts on women and women rights be well known, always declaring that women and men are not equal. No argument that he is a deeply conservative man who has traditional views on women and believes in patriarchal system. 

However Erdogan’s dictation has gotten worse over the years, from trying to ban alcohol, to taking away people’s rights, to discriminating against women. Sure thing, the man has a vision and drive, and he knows what to say to win people over. Especially the people in the Eastern Turkey, the ones who are not well educated or as modern as Western Turks, the Eastern Turks  who don’t dare question his motives but trust him nonetheless. Turkey is a modern country thanks to Ataturk, yet Erdogan has declared many times that he wants to raise a religious generation. In other words – 

“There is now one mosque for every 350 people in Turkey -- and one hospital for every 60,000”.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/turkish-prime-minister-erdogan-targets-women-s-rights-a-839568.html

One of the many things I hate about Erdogan is that he is trying to take away people's freedom of speech. The press freedom in Turkey is in chaos, many journalists are in prison for expressing their views, Reporters Without Borders say that Turkey “is currently the world’s biggest prison for journalists, especially those who express views critical of the authorities on the Kurdish Issue”. He even tried to ban social networking sites such as Twitter and Youtube several times over the years. Someone needs to tell the man you can take away people's power but you can't take away their voice!! 

This week once again both Erdogan and his deputy Bulent Arinc got themselves in trouble with women. On July 28^th Turkey’s deputy Bulen Arinc gave a morality speech where he singled out women for laughing out loud in public. In his speech he stated that:

“[The man] will not be a womaniser. He will be bound to his wife. He will love his children. [The woman] will know what is haram and not haram. She will not laugh in public. She will not be inviting in her attitudes and will protect her chasteness,”

Turning a political speech into a sexist matter. Of course the speech caused uproar with women, women all over the world (me included!) posted photos of themselves laughing, refusing to acknowledge his backwards comments.  One of the many awesome women who used social media to shame Bulent Arinc was actress Emma Watson. She posted a photo of herself laughing hysterically whilst shaming Arinc for his sexist comments.

And this week Erdogan called a female journalist who expressed her views through a newspaper, a "shameless militant woman", who should "know her place". 
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/know-your-place-you-shameless-militant-turkish-prime-minister-tells-female-journalist-9656896.html

As a woman, a Turkish woman, it is very sad to see men like Erdogan and Arinc taking over Turkey with their sexist and backward thinking ways. Makes me angry that he has the right to blame women for causing a moral corruption, and furthermore criticises women for expressing happiness in public. Shame on you Erdogan! Shame on you Arinc!

And let me tell you - If the founder of the Turkish state Ataturk were alive, I ensure you he would've been protesting with the people on Taksim Square in Istanbul last year. 

PS. Going to be VERY interesting to see the elections tomorrow. Though we all know, we all know...