Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc is the latest government official to put his foot in his mouth.
In a speech last week, this high-ranking official preached his perverted version of morality to Turkish women by telling them not to laugh in public! “A woman will know what is haram [forbidden] and not haram,” Arinc warned. “She will not laugh out loud in public. She will not be inviting in her attitudes and will protect her chasteness.”
Arinc, a co-founder of the ruling AK Party, continued his chauvinist sermonizing: “Where are our girls who slightly blush, lower their heads, and turn their eyes away when we look at their faces, becoming the symbol of chastity?” He ridiculed women for discussing cooking recipes and other “frivolous things” on cell phones. Imitating a female voice, he squeaked: “What happened to Ayse’s daughter? When is the wedding?” He told the women to talk about such insignificant matters “face to face,” not on the phone!
The Deputy Prime Minister’s demeaning remarks spread like wildfire. In defiance, tens of thousands of Turkish women went on social media (Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram) posting “selfies,” pictures of themselves, laughing out loud. Rather than stopping their laughter, women started laughing … at him!
Arinc’s ridiculous comments were picked up by the international media, including Hurriyet, the guardian, ABC News, The Daily Star, National Post, Washington Post, Time magazine, Newsweek, The Australian, and hundreds of newspapers, magazines, radio and TV stations, blogs and websites. The Turkish Deputy Prime Minister has become the laughing stock of the world!
The next day, instead of apologizing for his sexist remarks, Arinc made matters worse by insisting that he stood by his words, and attacked his critics. He wondered why everyone was focusing on a small segment of his hour-and-a-half speech. He proceeded to mock female celebrities: “There are some artists who laugh artificially and send me their photos. Real laughs relieve a person, but these are artificial ones. You all had your moment of fame, but when that eluded, you tried to attract attention with alcohol and such fake laughter. Despite being married with kids, women go on vacation with their boyfriends, while leaving their husbands behind, and never miss a chance to wrap themselves around a dancing pole.”
This is not the first time that Turkish officials have made such asinine statements. In the past, Arinc was quoted saying that a rape victim must have “wanted it.” He also stated that it is perfectly fine if parents give permission to their 15-year-old daughter to marry a 45-year-old man. Ankara’s Mayor Melih Gokcek, while condemning abortion, shamefully declared: “Why should the child die if the mother is raped? The mother should die instead.” Meanwhile, the Forestry Minister told women who were seeking employment, “Isn’t your housework enough?” Former Minister for European Union Affairs, Egemen Bagish, an AKP official who frequently made nonsensical statements, was quoted: “What happened in 1915 can’t be classified as genocide as far as I am concerned, but I was not around in 1915.”
Rather than being worried about women’s laughter, Arinc and Erdogan should be more concerned about their government’s increasing slide into authoritarian rule by jailing journalists, killing Christian priests, violating minority rights, supporting Jihadists in Syria and Iraq, and engaging in corruption, theft and embezzlement. This is the real immorality that Arinc should denounce.
By preaching totalitarian morality for women, the conservative Turkish leader is appealing to Islamist voters to support Prime Minister Erdogan who is running for President on August 10. Arinc’s stone-age strategy has backfired as nearly half of Turkey’s deeply divided society does not consider itself Islamist and was offended by his remarks. Erdogan’s rival in the presidential race, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, blasted Arinc’s statement, saying that “more than anything else, our country needs women to smile and hear everyone’s laughter!”
After Erdogan’s meteoric rise to power, his government has pursued brutal policies at home and abroad, bringing worldwide condemnation to the country. As the probable next President, Erdogan and his clique are most likely to continue undermining Turkey’s international standing, turning it into a rogue state. After the presidential election, Turkey’s Islamist women would only laugh in private, while the secularists would laugh in public and risk getting 100 lashes!
Harut Sassounian
A very interesting and illuminating article Mr. Sassounian.
My view of several of the more ‘juicy’ factoids:
1. {“ He also stated that it is perfectly fine if parents give permission to their 15-year-old daughter to marry a 45-year-old man.”}
President Abdullah Gül married his lovely wife Hayrünnisa when she was 15 and he was 30.
So where is the problem ?
2. {“…… This is the real immorality that Arinc should denounce.”}
From their radical Islamist Anti-Christian, Anti-Armenian*, Anti-Kurd, Anti-Zaza, Anti-Alevi, Anti-everything but radical nationalist Sunni Muslim Turk viewpoint, they are not doing anything wrong: so why should they denounce it ?
Isn’t it ironic: all those non-Christians who gleefully participated in the genocides of indigenous Christians of Asia Minor, are now themselves being victimized by the Monster they helped create.
3. {“ Arinc’s stone-age strategy has backfired as nearly half of Turkey’s deeply divided society does not consider itself Islamist and was offended by his remarks.”}
Makes no difference if the half do not consider themselves Islamist: Islamists, even if they are 10%, will impose their will on the rest of the country over time. It only takes a small percentage of dedicated people who believe in their cause and who are not shy about resorting to extreme violence to impose their will on the rest.
One thing for sure: Islamists deeply believe in what they believe in.
The fact that the peaceful Gezi protests were violently suppressed, with no fallout for AKP, proves Islamists will impose their will gradually, despite the opposition of the other 50%. Europeanized Turks and Turkish citizens will have no choice but to submit, or leave.
4. {“ As the probable next President, Erdogan and his clique are most likely to continue undermining Turkey’s international standing, turning it into a rogue state.”}
I certainly hope so, and am actively campaigning in Orange Country, California (….a small concentration of Turkish-Americans there)
for President-to-be-elected, Paramount Neo-Ottoman Sultan in Eternity Erdogan. I have set up a campaign Yurt there. If you live in Southern California, please stop by and lend your support. Please bring lots of cash in shoe-boxes. All donations are non-US-tax-deductible: no receipts of any kind will be given, so don’t ask for one. Erdogan’s goons will be on hand and will give you the famous ‘Yusuf Yerkel at Soma’ treatment if you show disrespect.
Epilogue:
In 2003, the beginning of the end of the 80 year secular Kemalist charade, aided and abetted by the West, started with the election of AKP and PM Erdogan, in a democratic election.
Islam was suppressed by the secular Kemalist military since 1923, but Kemalist generals were outmaneuvered and defanged by Erdogan and couldn’t mount their usual coup: by the time they figured out what was going on, it was too late.
Turkey will gradually revert to its deep centuries-long Islamist roots.
As was pointed out by many Turkish commentators @TZ and @HDN, the depth and breath of scandals that enveloped Erdogan and his AK Party before the last election, a fraction of which would have sunk any other politician, barely touched Erdogan: his Islamist base loves him, because they identify with him, what he believes in, what he says and does.
—–
* [PM uses offensive, racist language targeting Armenians]
http://www.todayszaman.com/national_pm-uses-offensive-racist-language-targeting-armenians_354746.html
{“Kılıçdaroğlu, you are an Alevi and I am Sunni. You should state this openly. Demirtaş, you are Zaza. Don’t be worried about speaking out about this.”}
{Erdoğan said: “Let all Turks in Turkey say they are Turks and all Kurds say they are Kurds. What is wrong with that? You wouldn’t believe the things they have said about me. They have said I am Georgian. …they have said even uglier things — they have called me Armenian, but I am Turkish.”}
“Please bring lots of cash in shoe-boxes”
I see what you did there. Well played.
Oh, and also, in response to the Erdogan comment at the end. The quote made headlines in Turkish media, drawing pretty much universal criticism. One deputy leader of a political party said “We have news for you from the 21st century Mr. Erdogan: it is not a crime, nor an offense, nor is it bad, or a ‘sin’ to be an Armenian.” The man who said this was none other than the deputy leader of our lovely far-right grey wolf party MHP,Tuğrul Türkeş. And yes, as his last name suggests, he is the son of the founder of MHP, pan-Turkist, and grey wolves founder Alparslan Türkeş. So Erdogan is getting to a point where ultranationalist neo-fascists think he should tone down his hate speech.
Smart Muslim Turks should make him as Mufti of Istanbul!
Erdoğan can only wish he was an Armenian. At least then there was a chance that he’d be a great architect, musician or a talented ironsmith as my late granddad. But no, he is a big zero.