Tag: women’s rights

Turkish Prime Minister Assaults Women’s Rights

Erdogan the Misogynist Turkish Prime Minister Assaults Women’s Rights

By Daniel Steinvorth in Istanbul

Photo Gallery: Authoritarian Trend in Turkey
Photos
AFP

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has never been much of a feminist, but women in Turkey are enraged by his latest comments on abortion. Critics say he is trying to distract attention from a scandal involving a massacre of Kurdish civilians last year.
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Six letters, each a few centimeters tall, written onto her naked skin — that was Madonna’s contribution to Turkey’s culture wars. Anyone who saw the words “No fear” written on her back during her June 7 concert in Istanbul understood her message, which was to encourage the Turkish people to have no fear of the enemies of freedom, and of patriarchs, philistines and the morality police. The singer also exposed one of her breasts on stage, apparently as a gesture of solidarity.

For weeks, thousands of women have been protesting against the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, 58, after he announced his intention to crack down on abortions and Caesarean section births. Since then, a debate on the role of women in Turkey has erupted — but not for the first time.

‘I Don’t Believe in Equality’

It’s hard to say when exactly Erdogan threw away his opportunity to gain the support of the women’s movement.

In 2008, he gave a speech in the provincial city of Usak to commemorate International Women’s Day, in which he advised his “dear sisters” to have at least three, preferably five, children. After the speech, a Turkish daily suggested that perhaps Erdogan would like to see International Women’s Day renamed “International Childbirth Day.”

In 2010, he invited representatives of women’s organizations to the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul and confessed: “I don’t believe in equality between men and women.”

A year later, on International Women’s Day in 2011, Erdogan talked about violence against women and statistics stating that so-called honor killings had increased 14-fold in Turkey from 2002 to 2009. But that, said the premier, was only because more murders were being reported, and that there are basically few acts of violence against women.

A member of the audience says that she was “incredulous.” Erdogan’s speech was “simply misogynistic” and “intolerable window dressing,” she says.

Deeply Conservative

There is no doubt that the Turkish premier is a deeply conservative man. His view of women is traditional and his notions about family policy are patriarchal. The employment rate among women in Turkey is currently at 29 percent, the lowest among all 34 member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The Turks, who voted Erdogan into office for a third term last year, knew what they were letting themselves in for. Hadn’t Erdogan, when he was mayor of Istanbul in 1994, told a female employee that women should never be allowed to enter the innermost circles of political leadership, because this was “against human nature?”

A politician who dismisses female self-determination as “feminist propaganda” is nothing special in Turkey, and enjoys support among broad segments of the voting public, not just among conservative Muslims. Nevertheless, Turkey is still the most modern country among majority Muslim nations. It’s a country where GDP has increased by more than half, and per-capita income by more than a third, since Erdogan came into office. And it’s a country that has become a motor for growth and a regional power — and all of that since a supposedly reformed Islamist took power in March 2003.

At the time, many liberal Turks entered into a pact with Erdogan, because they had a common enemy: the fossilized establishment consisting of the military, the judiciary and the government bureaucracy. In return for their support, Erdogan promised to respect the liberals’ lifestyle.

Changing Social Structures

But now there are growing signs that the prime minister hasn’t kept up his end of the bargain. “It isn’t a matter of Erdogan wanting to transform Turkey into a theocracy,” says Istanbul-based sociologist Binnaz Toprak. “It’s about what the Americans call social engineering, the modification of social structures.”

Take, for example, education. “We will raise a religious generation,” the prime minister said in the spring, just as his government was approving a new education reform. It increases compulsory school attendance from eight to 12 years, but this only seems progressive at first glance. Under the reform, parents can move their children to vocational schools, a category which also includes the religious Imam Hatip schools, after only four years. In fact, the last four years of compulsory education can even be completed in the form of correspondence courses.

Erdogan’s “religious generation” can already be pleased about a well-established infrastructure of faith today. His party, the AKP, has transformed the Presidency of Religious Affairs, the Diyanet, into a massive agency. Its €1.3 billion ($1.6 billion) budget is larger than the combined budgets of Turkey’s European Union, foreign, energy and environment ministries combined. There is now one mosque for every 350 people in Turkey — and one hospital for every 60,000.

‘Despotic Arrogance’

Art is another example. At the end of April, Erdogan had another of his notorious outbursts, this time raging against the “despotic arrogance” of the intellectuals. “What gives you the right to express an opinion on everyone and everything? Do you have a monopoly on theater in this country? Is art your monopoly? Those days are gone.”

Actors had demonstrated against an order to remove a play from a theater’s season schedule that the authorities felt was “too vulgar.” Erdogan then announced that all government-owned theaters were to be privatized.

The prime minister already had a score to settle with the actors. His daughter Sümeyye had tangled with an actor in April 2011, after the man had winked to her from the stage and imitated the way she chews gum. The young Erdogan stormed out of the theater and promptly complained to her father. The actor was later subpoenaed.

Erdogan’s authoritarian treatment of artists has almost sultanesque overtones, so much so that one false word can spell an artist’s demise.

Settling Scores

“It’s becoming increasingly difficult to think and live the way one wishes in Turkey,” says the world-famous pianist Fazil Say. “Turkey is getting more and more religious,” says author Nedim Gürsel. “This policy is leading the country toward totalitarianism,” says sculptor Mehmet Aksoy, whose sculpture “The Statue of Humanity,” dedicated to peace among Turks and Armenians, was torn down because the premier didn’t like it.

The government is also settling a score with pianist Say. An avowed atheist, he had quoted a verse from a poem by the medieval Persian poet Omar Khayyam in a tweet: “You say wine will flow from its rivers. Is heaven a pub? You say two women per believer. Is heaven a brothel?”

The pianist was eventually prosecuted for “insulting religious values.” It didn’t surprise him, says Say. In fact, he adds, nothing surprises him any more in a country whose prime minister, Erdogan, once wanted to abolish the ballet.

Deflecting Attention

And now the premier has discovered the abortion debate. This was unexpected, given that abortion has not been a subject of significant public discussion until now. A relatively liberal rule that permits abortions until the 10th week of pregnancy didn’t offend anyone, not even Islamic scholars. The prime minister shouldn’t behave as if he were the “guardian of the vagina,” angry female protesters shouted.

What prompted Erdogan to take on abortion? Was it to deflect attention away from perhaps the biggest scandal of his term in office? In December, the Turkish Air Force killed 34 innocent civilians during an attack on presumed fighters with the PKK Kurdish separatist organization. Many media outlets pretended that the massacre, which took place near the town of Uludere, never happened.

When Erdogan’s critics rebuked him for the air strike, the prime minister defended himself in his own way, saying: “You always talk about Uludere. Every abortion is like an Uludere.” But many would argue that one aborted fetus can not be compared to 34 dead Kurds.

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan

September 17, 2012
Turkey PM Erdogan sparks row over abortion

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has described abortion as tantamount to “murder”, angering women’s rights groups and sparking an intense debate in the mainly Muslim nation.

Turkish feminists hold placards as they protest outside the Turkish Prime Minister's office in Istanbul

In line with Mr Erdogan’s comments, Turkey’s health minister proposed a change in the abortion law, which rights groups fear could lead to a total ban.

Abortions became legal in 1983. According to 2008 figures, 10% of pregnancies in Turkey were terminated through abortion, far lower than the European average rate of 30%.

Speaking last week at a conference on population and development, Mr Erdogan said “there is no difference between killing a baby in its mother’s stomach and killing a baby after birth”.

“I consider abortion to be murder. No-one should have the right to allow this to happen.”

Mr Erdogan also said he was “a prime minister that is against birth by caesarean” because “unnecessary” elective caesareans were “unnatural”.

Mr Erdogan, who is known to advocate having large families, caused yet more anger when he compared abortion to the aerial bombardment of civilians.

“Every abortion is like an Uludere,” he said – a reference to an incident last December in which 34 civilians were killed by the Turkish military in an air strike near the Iraqi border.

An investigation into the incident is still going on, with claims that the civilians were mistaken for Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) armed insurgents.

‘Our womb’

Perhaps inevitably, Mr Erdogan received the backing the Turkish parliament’s human rights committee chairman Ayhan Sefer Ustun.

Mr Ustun, who belongs to the ruling Islamist-rooted AKP (Justice and Development Party) of Mr Erdogan, said abortion should be banned as it constitutes “a crime against humanity”.

“The notion that life begins after a few months is a grand delusion. We now need to rid society of this misconception… It also poses a danger to the mother’s life.”

But that was not the reaction from feminists and women’s rights groups.

Habibe Yilmaz, lawyer and director of the Centre for Legal Support for Women, said “making a decision regarding one’s own body… is a fundamental human right”.

“Depriving women of this right would be tantamount to restricting her right to health and the right to live a fulfilling life.”

I believe the law should prevent abortions as much as possible”

Recep Akdag Turkey’s Health Minister

The Istanbul Feminist Collective reacted angrily. It staged a sit-in outside the prime minister’s office in Istanbul. Women held banners declaring “Murder is male violence, abortion is a choice!” and “Our womb, our life, our decision!”

Illegal practices

Next in line to reject Mr Erdogan’s comments was Turkey’s medical fraternity. The Turkish Medical Association (TTB) warned that restricting abortion would only encourage illegal practices, push women to use “primitive methods” to abort and increase maternal mortality.

“Prime Minister Erdogan’s worries that the population will decrease and the nation will be wiped off the face of the Earth are baseless. Turkey’s population will reach 90 million in 2050 without any additional arrangements,” said TTB Secretary-General Feride Tanik.

The prime minister also faces international criticism. US-based Human Rights Watch has warned that restrictions on abortion would threaten “women’s human rights to life, health, equality, privacy, physical integrity, and freedom of religion and conscience”.

Change in law?

Meanwhile, Turkey’s Health Minister Recep Akdag has said a draft law will be submitted next month that would restrict or ban abortions.

“I believe the law should prevent abortions as much as possible, except in cases when they are medically necessary. When making a decision, politicians will take into account both the scientific and moral aspects of the issue,” he said.

In a reference to babies born as a result of rape, Mr Akdag said that the state would look after the babies if “the mother has been through something bad”.

It is not clear what the draft bill would entail, but rights groups fear either a total ban or limiting abortions to four weeks after pregnancy. Current Turkish law allows abortions until the 10th week after conception.

New restrictions on abortion would not necessarily hurt Turkey’s bid for EU membership, as some EU member states either ban abortion or set very strict conditions for it.

via BBC News – Turkey PM Erdogan sparks row over abortion.

June 2, 2012
Seeking real equality for Turkey’s women

By Idil Aybars

The Daily Star

Turkish women were among the first in Europe to exercise political rights with the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1924, but 87 years later Turkey ranks 122nd of the 135 countries in the 2011 Global Gender Gap Index.

Women’s rights in Turkey have a complicated track record. Turkish women gained many of their current social, cultural and political rights in the 1920s and 1930s after the establishment of the Turkish republic. In 1934, before France and Switzerland, Turkey recognized women’s right to vote and run for public office. And along with political rights, a number of important legal reforms in the 1920s and 1930s aimed to provide Turkish women with equal rights in the educational, family, work, social and legal spheres.

Today, however, there are pressing problems when it comes to gender equality in Turkey. These problems do not harm only women, but also men and society at large.

Gender equality is now the cornerstone of democratization and of Turkey’s bid to join the EU, as well as a major concern of an increasingly strong women’s movement. A number of legal steps, particularly affecting the constitution, civil law and penal law, have been taken during the last decade to align Turkey’s domestic law with its international commitments.

The 2004 amendment to Article 10 of the 1982 constitution, for example, added a specific provision prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex. The Turkish Penal Code was also amended in 2004 so that crimes against women are understood within the framework of crimes against humanity, and to introduce life imprisonment for the perpetrators of so-called “honor” killings. And at present, the government is drafting a comprehensive new law on violence against women.

Despite this legal framework, it is difficult to talk about real social equality for women. While the current government is proud to underline that Turkey is amongst the top 20 fastest growing economies in the world, its poor ranking in the 2011 Global Gender Gap Index suggests a different story. The areas where gender inequality is most pronounced are economic participation and opportunity – in which Turkey ranks 132 out of 135, and educational attainment – in which it ranks 106 out of 135.

While the global rate for female labor market participation is 52 percent, Turkey’s fluctuates at 24-28 percent, less than half of the world average. Moreover, female employment rates have been decreasing since the 1990s, due to massive migration from rural to urban areas, which implies that women previously working in agriculture and now living in cities have recourse predominantly to jobs in the informal sector, or remain unemployed due to a lack of skills and education. And women make up the majority of the illiterate population of Turkey, with around 4 million illiterate women today.

Turkey’s experience over the last 10 years clearly demonstrates that legal equality does not inevitably lead to real equality. There are examples of good practices, including nationwide campaigns and initiatives to encourage families to send girls to schools supported by increasingly active women’s NGOs. Nevertheless, their impact remains limited due to economic hardship and patriarchal social values.

Many families still do not send their girls to school because girls take on household duties from an early age. Formal education for girls is thus not prioritized, a problem compounded in rural areas by transportation problems.

There is a serious need for the political will to translate legal reforms into real, practical gender equality in all aspects of life. Providing training and education for women, to empower them to become strong and independent, is a first important step. Therefore, improving the formal education system and lifelong learning opportunities for women is very important.

Men should also be included in the effort to promote gender equality in order to challenge existing mindsets and values. Incorporating gender equality classes in the formal education system and providing gender equality training – particularly for military, police and legal services personnel – could be important first steps in this respect.

While government efforts to combat violence against women have been noteworthy, they will only be useful if they are complemented by concrete initiatives on other fronts, namely, women’s economic independence and social participation.

Idil Aybars is an assistant professor of sociology at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. THE DAILY STAR publishes this commentary in collaboration with the Common Ground News Service (www.commongroundnews.org).

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on November 30, 2011, on page 7.

via THE DAILY STAR :: Opinion :: Commentary :: Seeking real equality for Turkey’s women.

December 5, 2011
The WISE Women of Islam: What a Conference in Istanbul Can Tell Us About the Future of Women in the Muslim World

Fritz Lodge

Blogger

[Reported from the WISE Conference in Istanbul. All non-cited quotations or paraphrasings drawn from notes on the conference or interviews with WISE participants.]

The “fearful fatalistic apathy”, which a young Winston Churchill once noted amongst the “curses [of] Mohammedanism”, (Churchill, River Wars, 1899) has found frequent repetition over the years as one base assumption behind explanations as to precisely why a political revolution, like the Arab Spring, could never come to pass in the Muslim Middle East. A similar logic has often been applied to the concept that women in Islamic societies might strive to become anything other than the “absolute property of some man” (another Churchillian gem). Such apathy was, however, on poor display October 14 as some 170 Muslim women leaders gathered at the Marriott Hotel in Istanbul to attend a four-day conference organized by the Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality (WISE) — an offshoot of the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA) dedicated to promoting women’s rights in the Muslim world. Here, the word apathy does not spring easily to mind. As women from every far-flung province of Islam’s reach stream into the empty conference hall, the air hums with voices raised in vigorous conversation. Flowery greetings and small talk segue swiftly into meatier discussion. Stories are told, tactics exchanged, politics debated, and by the end of each speaking event lines for questioning stretch towards the door. It quickly becomes clear that four days will not be nearly enough to contain the vitality of this group. African, Asian or European, bareheaded or modestly garbed in flowered hijab (traditional head scarf), these women brim not with resigned fatalism but with energy, conviction and, incredibly, an overriding sense of optimism.

There seems little evidence to support such confidence. Muslim women, especially those hailing from the countries of the Middle East and North Africa, remain notoriously underprivileged and underrepresented. A recent report released by Freedom House on women’s rights in those nations did find marginal gains — specifically in the fields of education, employment, and political participation. However, it remains the region where “the gap between the rights of men and those of women has been the most visible and severe.” This is hardly news for the women of WISE, nor is such iniquity exclusive to Islam’s heartland. Standing to speak before the conference, Sophia Abdi Noor — a member of Kenya’s 10th parliament- rattles off a list of offences. “I have been a victim myself,” she admits, “who has gone through female genital mutilation at a very tender age, who has lost her two friends in the operation… who was forced to marriage.” Later, when she ran for parliament, conservative Islamic leaders within the community convinced the president to disqualify Ms. Noor’s bid, despite her victory at the polls. “But”, she states to laughter from the crowd, “I did not stop at that!” She smiles triumphantly, “Now I am a member of parliament… and I am proud to tell you that I am one of the framers of the new constitution of Kenya!” This tone of dogged defiance in the face of adversity is one struck often and well here. From Suraya Pakzad, a fearless campaigner for women’s rights in Afghanistan, to Santanina Rasul, who remains the only Muslim woman to win a senate seat in the Philippines, each participant pairs tales of hardship and bias with the casual assumption that no obstacle is insurmountable.

That mentality is one which seems to define this gathering but what is, perhaps, most striking about WISE is the religious framework within which it operates. This is a Muslim women’s conference above all else and, in large part, it is this Islamic identity, which the organization seeks to empower. “Women are the glue that holds society together”, states Daisy Khan — WISE founder and executive director of ASMA — their status in the Muslim world must change but, Daisy notes, “Islam can effect that change.” That statement might seem antithetical to some, considering the frequency with which theological arguments are used to rationalize rights abuses in the Muslim world. However the women here maintain that, for the most part, these arguments represent only the manifestation of cultural and tribal mores in the guise of Islamic law. They argue that, contrary to popular perception, the six basic objectives which guide Sharia law — the protection and promotion of religion (al-din), life (al-nafs), mind (al-aql), family (al-nasl), wealth (al-mal), and dignity (al-‘ird) — provide the same fundamental rights to both men and women.

The promotion of Sharia interpretations refocused upon these universal values is one of WISE’s main objectives and the organization sponsors several programs aimed at balancing the narrative on woman’s place within Islam. One such program, the NOOR Educational Center run by Jamila Afghani, has experienced marked success in educating Afghani Imams on the religious illegality of common cultural practices such as early and forced marriage. While the Shura Council, WISE’s flagship project, brings together influential female leaders and scholars specializing in Islamic law to produce detailed and thoroughly sourced theological position statements on certain controversial elements of Sharia.

As Islamist parties stand poised to win a large share in government at upcoming elections in post-revolutionary Egypt and Tunisia, the promotion of an inclusive, non-restrictive approach to Sharia is particularly important. Efforts such as these, if spread successfully, have the potential to blunt the power of those who would use Islam as a weapon of repression, and inform those who would assert their intrinsic rights within the religion. However the tendency for Muslim women, bound by cultural and traditional norms, to censure themselves and prolong their own discrimination remains a major obstacle in efforts toward equality. Judge Kholoud al-Faqih — Palestine’s first Sharia court judge — underlined this dilemma during a panel on spiritual leadership, recalling her disappointment at the reaction of many women who, upon seeing a female judge, clicked their tongues in admonishment and sought out male judges to try their case. “It is very sad to see this” she says with a shrug, “because this is cultural baggage and doesn’t have anything to do with Islam.” So, perhaps, Churchill’s “fearful apathy” retains some of its power to convince the disenfranchised to stay that way. As long as it does, progress remains a distant prospect. Still, the events of the Arab spring should provide a lesson in the folly of underestimating the spark of individualism in the Islamic world. If the ladies of WISE 2011 are anything to go by, Muslim women may celebrate their own spring sooner than we think.

October 28, 2011
Muslim Women Ask if Religion Bars Them from Leadership Roles

Posted on October 16, 2011 by dilshadali

“Change doesn’t happen by itself. You need change agents.” – Daisy Khan

Upwards of 200 (mostly Muslim) women from about 50 countries have gathered this weekend in historic Istanbul, Turkey to look at how women are and can be leaders across all facets of life – spiritual, political, social, economic, and family – and whether religious barriers hinder women from working in positions of leadership. This is the third global WISE (Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality) conference, an initiative of the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA) and the brainchild of ASMA founder and director Daisy Khan.

I have been invited to Istanbul to attend the WISE conference, and it is my third time being included in this group of glorious, powerful, dedicated, humble, glass ceiling-smashing change agents. (The first conference was in New York, and the second in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.) And, as usual, being in the meeting room with these Muslim women made me think: how am I worthy of being here? I don’t have an answer to that question, but what I know is that Ms. Khan’s opening statement of the conference rung true: “Women are the glue that holds the family together. Women are the glue that holds the community together. Women are the glue that holds society together. … We can no longer be bystanders and leave religious matters to people who distort Islam.

“Change doesn’t happen by itself. You need change agents.”

In Five Short Years

WISE and Daisy Khan have come far from that first global conference in New York in 2006. Five years ago, the main objective of that conference was trying to figure out the most important global concerns for Muslim women around the world, and what could be done about them. One of the biggest and well supported ideas that came out of the 2006 conference was the need for a women’s Shura Council, where women would “actively dialogue and debate” important issues, then research and discuss them, and then ultimately write position papers that could be used by Muslim women over the world in their work, as explained at the Istanbul conference by Azizah magazine editor Tayyibah Taylor, a WISE Shura Council member.

And so, that vision has come to be. In the past five years, the Shura Council, made up of numerous Muslim women from around the world, have released three heavily researched and referenced position papers on “Jihad Against Violence,” “Female Genital Cutting,” and “Adoption and Care of Orphans Children.” The council is working on two more position papers – women in leadership, and on the proposed Mufftiyah training program.

Having been part of WISE for five years now, I was impressed and surprised to learn the Shura Council had been so active and produced three papers in the past five years, and that the council was working on two more. Surprised, I think, because there hadn’t been a large media push to present the papers to the public.

Shura Council member Farheen Kapra said the position papers, all available on the WISE website, are meant to be used by women in their work around the world. But in my journalistically-driven opinion, I think the council’s hard work could some public relations and social networking help. Such important position papers must get into the hands of women who need it to support their work around the world.

For example, a few years ago Laleh Bakhtiar produced an English translation of the Qur’an, called the Sublime Qur’an, and reinterpreted controversial verse 4:32. In many past interpretations, the verse read, “Husbands who fear adversity on the part of wives, admonish them, leave their bed, and beat them.” Bakhtiar, after consulting numerous Muslims scholars and undertaking her own in-depth study, concluded that the Arab root “drb” (which in the past was translated to “beat”) also means to “go away.”

Thus, she reinterpreted the verse to mean “Husbands, who fear adversity on the part of wives, admonish them, leave their bed, and go away.” The Shura Council drew upon this text in their position paper on “Jihad Against Violence,” which covers extremism as well as domestic violence.

That translation, according to the Shura Council is now used by 20 professors in classrooms around the world and has been cited in one child custody case. Also, the WISE Shura Councils FGM paper has led to a fatwa against the practice of FGM, reported Ms. Taylor as another example of how the council’s work is helping to make effective change for women.

A participant asked if the council’s papers are presented to Islamic scholars at Al Azhar University in Cairo or to scholarly institutes or ulema (Islamic legal scholars) in Saudi Arabia for their approval and to provide more weight to the papers. “We do send our papers to the OIC (Organization of Islamic Congress). They are reading our statements and have distributed our papers,” said Ms. Khan. “We’re not necessarily seeking the approvals of scholars [in Al Azhar or in Saudi Arabia] – but we’re open for suggestions.”

Women in Leadership Roles

At the heart of this conference is this question – does Islam, does religion, bar women from leadership roles? What ayahs of the Qur’an, hadiths, or Islamic examples support or just allow for Muslim women to seek leadership roles in various facets of life? Does Islam give credence to the barriers put forth by various countries, constitutions, religious leaderships, and patriarchal societies?

The women here say no. And their stories supporting their views are amazing.

This conference is filled with Muslim women leaders who are pushing for change and advocating for Muslim women to have their full Islamic rights. In Palestine, Judge Kholoud Al Faqeeh is the first shariah court judge appointed in the region after passing a legal competition in which 45 men and two women applied for judgeship. She spoke how when some men would walk into her courtroom, they would say, “Oh my God, it has come down to this. We have a female judge.”

From Kenya, Sophia Abdi Noor, the first Muslim woman nominated member of Parliament, spoke about how she underwent female genital mutilation “at a very tender age,” lost two dear friends to FGM, and was forced into an early marriage. “I have two daughters, and my daughters and other daughters of the [Kenyan] Muslim community must not suffer like I have suffered. … I had a responsibility to say ‘No!” to issues that are not Islam[ic].”

Ms. Noor was stripped of her seat when the Islamic leadership in her region declared that Muslim women could not be in Parliament. Since then, she fought back and has worked to change the Kenyan constitution to reinstate inheritance rights for women, and after telling of her personal experience with FGM, the Parliament voted to make the practice of FGM a criminal offense. Now, four women are members of the Kenyan Parliament.

These women, as well as many others here at the conference, insist that the problem is not the Islamic faith – the problem is cherry-picking through interpretations of sacred text, interpretations pushed forth by men and women for generations that put up a barrier against Muslim women seeking leadership roles.

Further sessions in the next two days will be exploring this topic even further, and the WISE Shura Council is presenting its findings on the issue of women in leadership roles in relation to Qur’an and hadith. Check back to the blog in the next few days to learn more and read more.

October 17, 2011
The great mediator

Sometimes Turkey really is a bridge between west and east

Turkish foreign policy

How can Mr Davutoglu help you?

IN JUNE 2006, days after a young Israeli private was captured by Hamas, Israel’s ambassador to Turkey paid a midnight visit to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister. Gilad Shalit was feared to be gravely ill, perhaps even dead. Could Turkey help? Phone calls were made and favours called in. Mr Shalit turned out to be alive, and his captors promised the Turks they would treat him respectfully.

Turkey’s relations with Israel, once an ally, have worsened of late, and hit a fresh low in May, when Israeli commandos raided a Turkish ship carrying humanitarian supplies to Gaza, killing nine Turkish citizens. Yet Turkey continues to lobby Hamas for Mr Shalit’s release.

Turkey’s falling out with Israel has sparked a flurry of anguished commentary in the West about its supposed eastward drift under the mildly Islamist Justice and Development party, which has governed the country since 2002. Concern over its cosy relations with Iran, despite that country’s refusal to suspend suspect nuclear work, has run particularly high. Yet nobody complained in April 2007 when Turkey brokered the release of 15 British Royal Navy sailors who had been seized by Iran. Similarly, France was delighted in mid-May when a personal intervention by Turkey’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, secured the release of Clotilde Reiss, a French teacher being held in Iran on spying charges.

Turkey is the first stop for thousands of political refugees from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Central Asia. These include Mohammed Mostafei, an Iranian lawyer who took up the case of Sakineh Ashtiani, a woman facing death by stoning in Iran for alleged adultery. Mr Mostafei fled to Turkey earlier this month after receiving death threats (he has since gone to Norway). Now Turkey has discreetly taken up his client’s case (although Iran has turned down a Brazilian offer of asylum for Ms Ashtiani). It is also pressing Iran for the release of three American hikers who were arrested, on suspicion of “spying”, near the Iraq border a year ago and who have been rotting in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison ever since.

Turkey’s mediating skills have even aroused excitement in Africa. Mr Davutoglu recently revealed that Botswana had sought his help in fixing a territorial dispute with Namibia. Flattered though he was, however, Mr Davutoglu confessed that, for once, he was stumped.

http://www.economist.com/node/16847136?story_id=16847136&fsrc=rss, Aug 19th 2010

August 22, 2010