Live & Let Live: On lifting the Headscarf Ban at the Parliament

Author at the Turkish Grand National Assembly, Summer 2013

Finally, Turkish legislature corrected a portion of its long overdue dress-code.  As of today (October 31, 2013) women parliamentarians who choose to wear a headscarf can sit on those fancy orange seats.

More than half the women cover their hair in Turkey (approx. 60-65%). Yet, the very institution that is supposedly  representing "the people", would not allow any of these women to hold a seat at the Parliament.

After their pilgrimage to Mecca this year, 4 women MPs decided that they would like to cover their hair from then on. Hence, they came to the Parliament with their new headgear today, and there was no sign of uncivilized protesting or bullying.

There's only a few months left until the elections. We don't know how much of this sudden surge in religiosity is genuine, and how much of it is political calculation. But we do not have a little gadget to measure people's sincerity. Nor should we try to do so. If anything, it might be wise to use this opportunity to lift other ridiculous bans at the Parliament floor, such as No Drinking Water and No Pants for Women (No, I'm not kidding. You cannot sip water even if you're diabetic. Nor can women wear pants and sit on those fancy orange seats. One MP with a prosthetic leg is compelled to wear a skirt, despite expressing her discomfort to display her artificial limb).

There is a great Turkish saying: "zarfa değil, mazrufa bak". It means: don't pay much attention to the envelope, look at the content. It is our way of saying, don't judge a book by its cover. I'm afraid lately all we look at is the envelope/cover....

As a society we need to :

 1) accept people as they are

 2) learn to NOT judge people by their proverbial cover

 3) appreciate each other's differences as legitimate

 4) NOT perceive all forms of difference as a THREAT

5) nor treat differences as frontiers to conquer, suppress and assimilate

6) respect & advocate for the rights of those who're different from us.

7) consider diversity as an asset, rather than liability

We all have to learn to live with each other. Kurds in Turkey have no other place to go. Neither do the religious folks, nor the uber-secularists. Even the non-Muslims, such as the native Armenian, Assyrian, Greek or Jewish communities don't want to leave Turkey, despite all the abuse they have gone through.

Anyone who knows people living in Turkey would know very well that we are one hard-headed people. Mom used to call me "inatçı keçi!"(stubborn goat), when I would resist her and give her the silent treatment.

We cannot bully each other into submission. Those who believe progress means secularism and modernization a la the West will remain that way. No amount of mosque building, media censuring, indoctrination at schools and alcohol ban would change their conviction.

Likewise, those who think salvation is in religion would not change their ways and endorse Westernization, even if the EU takes Turkey in as a member tomorrow.

Kurds and Alevis, on the other hand, have been mistreated so harshly for so long that there is not a single method of abuse or torture that they have not already been subject to. Yet, they're still here, still trying to be part of the game.

For the last decade or so, the Turkish economy remained in the same ranks (17th-18th largest in the world), while other emerging economies showed steady progress (Brazil moved from 11th to 6th). We have a major urban development problem. 2-3 cities in the country are growing into monstrous metropolises, at the expense of all the other cities and towns. They suck up all the resources and human capital, but their sheer size is making them unmanageable and unlivable. This is not a healthy, sustainable trend. People should be able to have the chance for a decent living (i.e. jobs, education, quality living conditions, etc), in the other 70-some cities in Turkey as well.

But we can't even get to talk about these crucial socio-economic problems. We cannot deliberate on practical, policy issues. Because we get bogged down by identity issues. Frankly, we seem to hate each other lately... A very superficial understanding of who you are (islamist if you cover your head, secularist if you drink!!) dominates the discussion. If you're in a different identity camp, we don't even listen to what have to you say.

Each side seems to be waiting for the weakest moment of its opponent to strike a final blow. The happiest moment seems to be when we become one homogenous entity, devoid of color and flavor... But let me reiterate: we're stubborn. No one will give up the essential components of their identity, no one will give in..

Besides, I don't know a single true democracy where citizens are judged and sorted out by their outfits! In fact, in established democracies, this very act would be 'profiling' and a crime, since it is blatant discrimination!

Let us please learn to appreciate each other as who we are.
Let us learn to live together as who we are.
Let us not look at headgear or mustache style, but look at what's inside that head. What kind of ideas and proposals are inside that brain?
Let us learn to argue over rational, measurable projects and proposals, instead of all this emotional, immature personality attacks.
Let's grow up to be rational, reasonable adults.

We cannot all love each other.
But we have to learn to respect each other as who we are.
Time is running out...
Soon, we'll degenerate into a poor, unhappy, dysfunctional society that is constantly at war with each other.

Can We Pray Anywhere We Want?

What prompted this blog?

It’s this column, that complains about the lack of prayer rooms (Mescid) at my Alma Mater, Bosphorus University.

The author is among the new cohort of pious, vocal and dare-I-say liberal women journalists, who came under the spotlight after the headscarf protests in Turkish universities in 2007-8.

Full disclosure: I supported her and the free headscarf movement wholeheartedly at the time. I believe women should not be made to choose between their education and their religious beliefs. It’s ludicrous for the state to micromanage people’s clothing, especially when they’re mature adults!

But this time, I beg to disagree…

South Campus, BU

What’s the issue?

Bosphorus University has multiple campuses: South, North, Hisar, Ucaksavar and Kilyos Campuses. South is the oldest campus, but most departments, classrooms, the library, dorms, university bookstore, etc are up on the North campus. There is a small mosque right at the entrance of the North campus.

Students who observe the 5-times per day prayer rule of Islam, want a designated space in the South campus for this purpose.

The columnist above, who is also an Alumnus of Bosphorus university (Sociology), claims that this is an “ontological right”. Furthermore, she says 10 minutes between classes is not enough time to go up to the mosque on North campus. Therefore, the University has to accommodate this demand, and provide a prayer room at the South Campus.

Now, lets be frank:

The only times the students would need a prayer room during class times would be the noon & afternoon prayers, and possibly the evening (in winter times).

Depending on the time of the year, there are 2 to 5 hour windows for Muslims to complete each of these prayer duties.

Noon & afternoon prayers are not short. They have 4 parts, as opposed to 2 parts in the morning & 3 parts in the evening.

Even if there were a dedicated prayer room in the South, 10 minutes between classes is NOT sufficient time. You’ll need to run over there, walk up or down stairs (always stairs, NO ELEVATORS in South!), wash your hands-face-feet, get yourself back in order, line up, concentrate on the prayer, rush all the verses, salute, dress up & pack, and run over to the next class. Again, numerous stairs obstructing your way… In short, prayer-in-10-mins argument does not pass the reality check.

Aside from the unrealistic nature of a 10-minute prayer break, there is the issue of “ontological” rights to prayer.

I support a wide range of rights and causes, all the way from rights to express your native identity & language, religious duties, to rights of workers to a decent wage and parental rights to provide for their new-born babies without the fear of losing their jobs, to free expression of ideas, students’ right to protest peacefully, sexual rights, handicapped people’s access to services, etc, etc…

However, I would never be able to line up these rights hierarchically and say: “Hey, you know, a mother’s right to paid leave for 12 months is an ‘ontological’ right! I just gave birth to a baby! I need to take care of him/her. It’s about life & death, no? Give me my high order right and back off, you foolish advocates of lower level rights!”

Tell that to the workers and union leaders in Argentina, who were dumped into the Atlantic by the military regime, for fighting for a decent pay and decent living.

Tell that to the activists in gay movements, who are still brutally beaten up by law enforcement and ostracized by their societies in many parts of the world, for trying to live a life that is true to their personality.

Tell that to all the indigenous and minority populations, who have been fighting for decades if not centuries, to be accepted as who they are, with equal rights and dignity.

I don’t understand why people can be so utterly self-righteous, when it comes to religious rights. Why should religion be an ontological right, triumphing over all else? Why should one’s self-identity, motherhood, or demands for a decent wage in exchange for their hard labor would count LESS THAN religious rights?

Lets leave ontology for a minute, and go back to basic empirical facts:

South campus is prime real estate no matter how you look at it. The historic heart of the campus is protected by numerous zoning laws, most famous of being the Law for the Protection of Bosphorus View. Practically, this means the university cannot develop the area it sits on.

Kilyos Campus, BU

There are innumerable competing interests and demands on campus. The English prep school (YADYOK) for instance –that every student has to attend unless s/he passes an extremely hard proficiency exam- has NO SPACE to put classrooms. So it ships all its students across the city to the Kilyos campus, which is essentially a beach town along the Black Sea! These poor kids cannot see the marvelous campus they’re entitled to study for a whole year! All they have in the name of Bosphorus University is a long beach and cold winds from the mad Black Sea beating up their walls. Oh, and lots of humidity and mold…

Second, office space is scarce in South. Multiple faculty members with Ivy League degrees –literally- share tiny offices cramped under sloping roofs lines.

Third, regular capacity cannot meet the demand. Under pressure from Turkey’s Higher Ed. Council (YOK) to increase enrollment, BU is having a hard time to seat and accommodate its ever-growing number of students. Hence, every bit of space, including under the stairs & old closets, are used for something, at times very creatively: toilets under the stairs, copy rooms & coffee rooms inside closets, etc… A dorm room in South Campus is the most precious thing a student can get in his/her entire college life! I had one, shared with 11 (in writing: eleven!) roommates. It was totally worth it, despite the awful metal bunk-beds, non-stop cacophony and insurmountable mess.

1st Girls Dormitory, South Campus, BU

My point: please stop demanding special treatment, and pretending that this is the most compelling case for space on South campus.

BU is the most liberal university in Turkey that not only welcomes students from all walks of life, but also helps them flourish. It is a rare gem, given the suffocating atmosphere in other universities across the country. 

Let us all be reasonable, and NOT beat the tree that bears good fruit.

The freedom loving, controversy-weary Academic Mommy

It is the Economy, Stupid!

Lately, problems about Syria seem to have monopolized our attention.

Instead of speculation and sectarian gambling in the MidEast, let me distract you towards some bread and butter issues, my dear readers…

Recently, one of the largest business associations in Turkey called MUSIAD had its annual convention in Istanbul.

Popularly, MUSIAD is known as the ‘Muslim’ Industrialists & Businessmen Association in Turkey, even though the ‘M’ in their acronym stands for ‘Independent’ in Turkish.

The Uber-Prime Minister Erdogan gave a speech at the MUSIAD Convention. The highlight of his speech:

Lamentably low commercial ties among the world's Muslims.

According to the Turkish Prime Minister, the Muslims in the world should wake up and realize that they form a whooping 22% of the world population! Subsequently, they should circle their wagons and start buying and selling from each other.

Now, isn’t that grand? How come no one came up with this brilliant idea until Tayyip-the-Nuevo-Leader-of-World-Muslims uttered it?

After the Prime Minister’s speech calling for the “Muslims of the World, Unite!” the head of MUSIAD obviously got the message.

In his speech, MUSIAD President Olpak happily announced that the trade volume of Turkey with the European Union (yep, the one Turkey is a candidate to join since 1999) was going down.

No doubt with the help of God Almighty, the trade volume of Turkey with the Middle East and other Muslim countries in Asia and Africa was on the rise!

The Head of MUSIAD is not cooking up these numbers. The import-export trends in recent years clearly show that Turkish economy is gradually decoupling from Europe. For the first time last year, the trade volume with the EU fell below 50%. Russia, Asia and MENA countries are inching their way up, gradually becoming more important trade partners for Turkey.

Should we worry about this? 

Yes...Here is why:

We have a saying in Turkey: Tell me who your friends are, and I’ll tell you who you are.

This principle is applicable to imports and exports: Tell me who your export partners are, and I’ll tell you how advanced your economy is. 

When Turkey exports to Europe, or to any other advanced economy (Australia, Canada, etc), that means those Turkish products that reach these markets, meet higher standards. Almost always the EU has higher consumer, environmental, and quality standards than say India, China, Saudi Arabia or Pakistan.

Hence, when Turkish economy performs in order to meet the EU standards, it is compelled to improve itself. The target market inevitably creates a progressive dynamic for the Turkish economy.

Let’s look at our fellow Muslims, who after all form 22% of the world population and grow more rapidly than anyone else.

Last time I checked, none of the majority Muslim countries had established advanced industrial economies, including the oil-rich, taxis-are-all-Mercedes city-states of the Gulf.

Worse, many of them, such as Yemen, are at the bottom of the Human Development Index. This means, their populations are poorer, less educated and live shorter. The state of women in these countries is not what you’d call decent.

Here is an example of what economic delinking from the West and cozying up to our fellow Muslims would look like in practice:

Instead of producing TV screens, electronic components, car parts, sophisticated pharmaceuticals, and organic fruit for Germany, France or Italy, Turkish economy would produce electric blankets, aspirin, carpets and furniture for Libya, Iraq, Pakistan and Syria (assuming things there calm down soon).

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realize that the products aimed for the EU markets have higher technology components to them. Consequently, they have higher profit margins, greater potentials for R & D, innovation and advancement. You can be only so sophisticated and innovative, while making carpets and furniture.

This is only one problem about steering Turkish economy away from advanced economies, towards lesser-developed ones.

Here are two more:

What would the Prime-Minister & Co-Chair of Dialogue Among Civilizations think, if the US President called for solidarity among the Christian economies in the world??

Imagine Obama saying: “My fellow Christians. Today, let’s forget our differences as Protestants, Catholics and Orthodox. We are more than 2 billion people. Let us combine our economic forces into a single global Christian economic community!”

Sounds weird, does’t it.  

According to the Pew Research Center, 2.18 billion Christians make up almost 1/3 of world population. That’s a pretty sizable market. But you never hear any sensible political leader calling for economic cooperation based on religion.

Even Hugo Chavez has more common sense. Across Latin America, which shares common Iberian and Catholic ties, Chavez advocates unity based on Bolivarianism and socialism, that is, ideology not religion.

Why?

Because, this is the 21^st Century! Hello??? It is discriminatory and wrong to advocate your cause -let alone call for economic integration- based on religion.  

Finally, there is the World Trade Organization.

WTO is a free trade organization among nations. It guarantees that the members play according to the logic of free trade, which means being rational actors.

As such, WTO prevents favoritism and discrimination among countries in their economic affairs. In short, it tells that if you’re a member, you cannot discriminate the Australians because of their funny accents, nor can you favor the Italians, oh because they’re so hot! :))

Back to serious business:

Turkey signed the treaty and became a member of WTO in 1995.

Erdogan’s suggestion of favoring Muslim countries in foreign trade is ultimately a violation of the treaty obligations that Turkey signed onto. As the head of executive, and an advocate of market economy, he should know better. 

Below is an excerpt is from the WTO mission statement.

“Through these agreements, WTO members operate a non-discriminatory trading system that spells out their rights and their obligations. Each country receives guarantees that its exports will be treated fairly and consistently in other countries’ markets. Each promises to do the same for imports into its own market.”

I'm not suggesting we should turn our backs to any economy that is worse off than Turkey. 

But this shouldn't come at the expense of economic rationality, and undermine long-term development capacity of the country. Nor should primordial ties like religion, ethnicity or race be the basis of economic solidarity. 

Wishing you all rational and non-discriminatory economic decisions,

The bread & butter advocate, Academic Mommy