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- May 11, 2013
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In a happy act of defiance Twitter in Turkey was yesterday flooded with pictures of smiling women laughing out loud.
The pictures were posted in response to comments made by Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç who on Monday said that women should not laugh out loud in public.
During a speech at an Eid el-Fitr - breaking of the fast - event in the northwestern city of Bursa he also urged them to stop talking about 'unnecessary' things on the phone and said Turks had 'abandoned their values'.
Defiantly happy: Twitter user Anna Paolamerone throws her head back in laughter
Hundreds of women then posted pictures of themselves laughing out loud, and the hashtags #direnkahkaha - resist laughter - and #direnkadin - resist woman - trended on Twitter. Pictures were also posted on photo sharing site Instagram.
Mehtap Dogan of the Socialist Feminist Collective, who was among the women to post pictures of themselves, said Arınç comments were not an isolated incident of misogyny
'His words perfectly illustrate his and the (ruling) AK party's attitude towards women,' she told The Guardian.
'In their eyes, women should not have any rights, they treat us like a separate species.'
Turkish men also showed their support. One user wrote that the men of a country 'where women are not allowed to laugh are cowards'.
As did Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, who is running against current prime minister Recap Tayyip Erdogan in next week's elections.
He said Turkey needed women to smile and to hear people laugh.
In his speech Arınç went on to complain about 'moral corruption' by television programmes which he said are transforming teenagers from 'symbols of chastity' into 'sex addicts'.
Describing his ideal chaste man or woman, Arnic said they should both have a sense of shame and honour.
He said: 'Chastity is so important,' he said. 'It is not only a name. It is an ornament for both women and men. [She] will have chasteness. Man will have it, too. He will not be a womaniser.
'He will be bound to his wife. He will love his children. She will not laugh in public. She will not be inviting in her attitudes and will protect her chasteness.'
According to the Hurriyet Daily News, he also condemned the transformation of young females in society.
He said: 'Where are our girls, who slightly blush, lower their heads and turn their eyes away when we look at their face, becoming the symbol of chastity?'
Arınç also said he was frustrated by high consumption, referring to the number of cars and mobile phones that individuals now own.
Targeting women once more, Arınç said women discuss unnecessary things such as 'recipes' on the phone and should, in future, reserve these conversations for when they meet face-to-face.
Mr Arınç is a member of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) which conservative values leading to it being described as Islamist.
Turkey has historically been more progressive with women's rights than neighbouring countries but problems concerning honour killings and domestic violence have prompted concern.
Source: theguardian.com
