fter cracking down on co-ed student residences two weeks ago a member of Turkey’s Islamist government hinted yesterday that co-ed schools may be next on the hit list. This comes on the heels of removing the secularist ban on wearing headscarves in the National Assembly and government offices.
There’s a colloquial expression in Turkish, “Haremlik-Selamlik” meaning harem on the one side and men’s reserved quarters on the other, referring to how men and women were segregated at Topkapi Palace, seat of the Ottoman Empire. Even the Ottoman Sultan couldn’t sit with women on social occasions, weddings were conducted by proxy representatives, and conversations between men and women took place through a wooden screen. The only exception were the eunuchs who had a run of the palace including the harem. This is pretty well how mosques are organised today, with men praying in the general area and women are collected in a room in the back or upstairs, away from men’s vision. Fundamentalist view of Islam is preoccupied with the rightful place of women in society, which means away from men’s view. It dictates that there must be no contact or exposure between men and women except in the privacy of their homes as man and his “wives.”
The first hint of government’s intent to impose a social code of conduct came last summer when Prime Minister Erdogan complained that there was too much cleavage and not enough war in “Magnificent Century”, a highly popular TV series depicting the reign of Ottoman Sultan Suleiman, dubbed The Magnificent. Then the young residents of the capital city of Ankara were shocked by an announcement in a subway station that invited passengers to behave morally, referring to a couple holding hands. They organised public kiss-ins in protest all over the city. Turkish Airlines stopped serving liquor on some routes, while management banned flight attendants from wearing red lipstick. A new law that restricted sales of alcohol nationwide was explained away with considerations of public safety. The most blatant social interference to date came, however, when the Prime Minister announced two weeks ago that the government would crack down on co-ed student residences. Police raided and fined male and female residents of an apartment while a cabinet minister declared that co-habitation of men and women is breeding ground for terrorists. A TV anchorwoman was fired after a minister said she showed too much cleavage while an Islamist TV commentator said pregnant women with protruding bellies shouldn’t be seen in public at all.
Yesterday the deputy speaker of the Parliament, and an MP of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Sadik Yakut said it’s wrong for boys and girls to attend the same classes. He complained that the society’s morals had been diminished in the name of westernisation. “God willing” he said, “this will be changed in the next session.” Later he backtracked saying this was his personal view, and what he meant was that there should also be segregated schools as well as co-ed institutions. As the Islamist government has speeded up an overhaul of the education system, an Ottoman-style Haremlik-Selamlik may be in the works for “modern” Turkish schools.
Source: Examiner.com
