Summary of Ibrahim Kalin’s column, based on three recent reports:
According to the 2007 census, about 60 percent of the total population of Turkey is under the age of 30. So just what is this young and extremely dynamic population doing?
About 40 percent of Turkey’s youth seems to be doing “nothing”. They don’t work, they […]
The deputy head of Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate insisted yesterday that, despite people’s reference to religious requirements to keep their daughters home, there was no religious reason for not sending girls to school. Rather, Islam demands that every Muslim, men and women, seek knowledge and science from birth to death. Society’s discrimination has forced […]
I would like to thank a reader for calling the following article to my attention:
Two liberal theologians have taken Turkey’s most famous Islamic clothes designer to court, alleging the couturier is exploiting religion for personal profit. The case is highlighting the growing tension between Islam and the country’s market economy.
Dubbed “Allah’s tailor” by the press, […]
Book review in Today’s Zaman of ‘My Grandmother: A Memoir’ by Fethiye Cetin
As a girl, Turkish lawyer Fethiye Çetin knew her grandmother as an adored Muslim matriarch by the name of Seher. Then she learned that Seher had been born an Armenian Christian, Haranus, who, several decades before, had been seized from the clasp […]
Arguing that the right to life of citizens is under attack in the provinces of Van, Hakkari and Yüksekova, the Diyarbakir branch of the Association of Human Rights (IHD) announced the results of their latest report on violations of human rights in the Southeast in a recent press conference:
Over the last four months 242 women […]
A list of controversial “dos and don’ts” regarding sexual relations in Islam has been published on the Web site of the Directorate of Religious Affairs. According to the much-debated list, people should avoid having illegal, extra-marital affairs and engaging in relations, such as flirting and dating, that can lead to adultery.
The Web site also cites […]
A recent survey found that women working as public employees in Turkey face a variety of serious problems, ranging from low wages to sexual harassment. 3.4 percent of single women, 1.9 percent of married women and 10.0 percent of widowed women complained about violence and sexual harassment in the workplace. The much higher percentage […]
Based on its 2007 Turkey Progress Report, the European Parliament is pressing Turkey to step up its reforms and expressed concern about the chief prosecutor’s move to shut down the ruling party and ban many of its lawmakers from politics, including the prime minister and the president, accusing them of Islamist subversion. (Click […]
Click here for an interesting approach to the headscarf debate in an essay by Prof. Ayse Kadioglu. Here is a quote from her essay:
Interestingly, there are two different styles of headscarves: the traditional one is called basörtüsü, and is worn by women who are considered “peasants” even though they live in big cities. They usually […]