.jpg)
By Tania Kurd Mirza:
The Turkish ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) isn’t embarrassed by the deadly furnace that is fired up by Ankara towards a Kurdish combustion; they are embarrassed, however, by women’s short skirts. The AKP sees women as essentially vile, wicked and dirty, not just in their minds and bodies; to the AKP the opinion of women counts for nothing (in fact less than nothing).
In countries with lesser education and development, men have been degraded, vilified and embarrassed by being forced to dress in women’s clothes; statements are made such as “he is walking like a woman” and this is meant to impose great shame on the man. The AKP have said that they will force those who are fighting for autonomy to wear women’s short skirts and parade them in full view of the people.
In 2013 a comparable incident occurred in Iranian Kurdistan (Rojhelat); The Iranian legal system forced men to wear short skirts as a punishment; as soon as this was brought to the attention of the public, a campaign was initiated by the men of Kurdistan who stated that they were proud to wear women’s clothes and displayed no embarrassment or shame in doing so.
While the Kurdish women of Turkey are fighting against the fascist Turkish powers’ efforts to discriminate against them as wicked and vile, the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) leaders find this particularly heinous: the HDP is the only party in Turkey and Kurdistan where both men and women are treat as equals.
Kurdish men wear women’s clothes in 2013 protest
The AKP’s secretary Abdulhamit Gul said on Sunday 31st January 2016: “We will force those men who want autonomy and to divide Turkey to wear women’s short skirts”. This sentence exposes the hatred within Turkish government against women. Not only do they view women as shameful and wicked, they also discriminate against the clothes they wear.
A government that discriminates against the clothes of women cannot expect Kurdish men and women to remain under its control. Good and democratic government officials should perhaps be willing to wear short skirts, bare their legs and not be afraid of embarrassing themselves, or of showing their imperfections. The public will see their openness and transparency and their willingness to fix things.
The Turkish Government is afraid of wearing a short skirt and to show their legs, they have to keep them covered just like the many problems they try to keep hidden!
Good governments are full of women, women who wear short skirts …
Tania Kurd Mirza is a lawyer and women’s rights activist
