Turkey's women and the professor who defends Talibanism

Before the Taliban regime, I had the chance to go to Afghanistan as a journalist in 2012; we stayed in Kabul for a few days. Even then, Afghanistan was a desert for women. The Turkish female journalists I was walking with in the Kabul bazaar were subjected to catcalling, harassment, and groping, and we barely managed to escape the bazaar.

After America fled Afghanistan without looking back and the Taliban regime was re-established, the country became even more unlivable for women.

Indeed, not only did the Taliban regime completely ban women's education, but about a month ago, it enacted even harsher laws. It banned women's voices from being heard in public, deeming it immoral, and legislated that an adult woman must hide her voice, face, and body if she is forced to leave her home. There are reports that 10 thousand people have been detained on the grounds that they did not comply with these decisions and committed immoral acts.

Talibanism is like this, and they do all of this in the name of Islam.

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And in Turkey, a professor, after two young women were brutally murdered by having their throats slit and being stabbed, while the whole country was in an uproar, came out and said exactly this:

"If they had been raised with Islamic sensitivity, they would never have met this killer, who was a 'namahrem' (not a permissible marriage partner) to them."

If you are looking for an environment where a woman will never meet people who are 'namahrem' to her, the first place that comes to mind is Afghanistan. It seems that when our professor says "Islamic sensitivity," he means the Taliban practices in Afghanistan.

In other words, if you lock women in their homes like the Taliban, there will be no problems, and no murders will be committed; that is the logic.

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However, there is a reality that both the Taliban in Afghanistan and the fundamentalists in Turkey are unaware of or choose to ignore.

If you lock half of your country's population in their homes, you fall behind countries that do not do this.

America, which incorporates its women into production, has become a world leader, and China is creating miracles in its economy.

South Korea, which has removed the obstacles in front of its women, lives in abundance.

Norway, which makes women company CEOs, is currently one of the most prosperous countries in the world.

Afghanistan, which does the opposite of all these and bans women from the streets, is hungry, miserable, and wretched.

And Turkey cannot develop because it pruned women's rights by canceling the Istanbul Convention, which bears the name of its own city; because those who try to lock women in their homes have reached critical positions; because those who consider shaking a woman's hand a sin are decision-makers; and because the cult sheiks who ignore women ride around in Mercedes. It enters an economic crisis, becomes the world champion in inflation, women are murdered on the streets every day, and the country regresses a little more every day.

Unfortunately, unless these factors we have listed change, the negative trend will not change either.

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Fortunately, despite all these negatives, Turkey's women continue to struggle with difficulties and achieve significant successes. I would like to give you two examples of this:

Over the weekend, the Visually Impaired Chess Tournament was held in Şile. The organizer was journalist Saime Oğuzhan, who also published the first newspaper for the visually impaired in Turkey using Braille, the "Görülmeyen Gazete" (Unseen Newspaper). With the support of her female friends, such as artist İnci Çiğdem Kaya, journalist Saime Oğuzhan hosted about 60 visually impaired people from all over Turkey in Şile for 4 days, enabled them to compete in the championship, and awarded them. The visually impaired, most of whom came with their families, both competed and had a short vacation at the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality's Şile Disabled Camp.

Another successful organization led by women was signed by Selda Alemdar Dinçer, the founding president of the Istanbul Business and Professional Women's Association (BPW Istanbul), President Müjde Çetin, and treasurer Öjen Arslanyan. Coming together for breakfast, BPW Istanbul members had the chance to listen to classical music works by female composers from the world and Turkey, performed by young university-student opera singers, organized by academic pianist Dr. Zeynep Eğilmez. It was also the surprise of the day to learn that one of our first female composers, Nazife Güran, founded the Philharmonic Association in Diyarbakır back in 1959 and contributed to the world-famous orchestra conductor Gürer Aykal's upbringing in that city.

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What I mean is that despite those who long for the Taliban regime, Turkey cannot be turned back on women's rights.

When the late İsmet İnönü was asked, "What were your greatest revolutions?", he gave this answer:

"Two things are now irreversible in Turkey because they are etched into hearts; one of them is women's rights, and the other is the Latin alphabet."

Looking at all these events and those who long for the Taliban regime, we better understand how these two revolutions of Atatürk changed the shape of the country in an irreversible way.