Turkey - Row over 'Medieval' marriage guidance book distributed by municipality for Turkish newly-weds

Turkey - Row over 'Medieval' marriage guidance book distributed by municipality for Turkish newly-weds . (TF)

In the town of Kütahya, west of Turkey, the bride and groom used to receive a controversial gift from the municipality: a marriage guide that provides advice from another age.

Spotted by the BBC last December, this book of 394 pages, entitled Marriage and Family Life boasts among young husband virtues of polygamy, justifies the subjugation of women to the will of their husbands and domestic violence .

Kutahya council in western Turkey issues the hefty 394-page "Marriage and Family Life" free of charge, but has run into a barrage of complaints. The leader of the main opposition CHP Republican People's Party in Kutahya, Zeliha Aksaz Sahbaz, told Turkey's NTV television channel that the book "depicts woman as second-class citizens and defines them as sexual slaves".

She and other critics point to such advice as a "wife must stay quiet and apologise if her husband is angry with her", and suggests polygamy as a way of "promoting competition" among women and sparing them the attentions of other men.

Local CHP member of parliament Fatma Kaplan Hurriyet raised the issue in a National Assembly family and social policy debate, telling MPs that the book appears to be a "cut-and-paste copy" of another book called "Marriage and Privacy" issued by Pamukkale city council, which she found in the parliamentary library.

She asked whether the mayors of these cities would face prosecution for distributing material that contravenes Turkish law, not least in advocating the beating of wives who "do not dress up at the request of her husband", NTV reports.

Written by a certain Hasan Çaliskan, a former employee of the Office of Religious Affairs, the guide seems to have been inspired by medieval times. It dispenses including the "right to sexual obedience" of the woman to her husband during the wedding night and advises marriage as young as ten years .

"A woman who does not make herself beautiful to her husband and does not respect her authority can be beaten, it will remind her of the rules in force in the home," she said. "If a woman sees a man more beautiful than her husband, she could fall in love with him, so she must stay at home," says the author of the manual, who argues that professional life "turns women away from duty Sexual relationship with her husband ".

Other advice to follow according to the guide: to avoid going to the theater which is the "den of the demons" but also to remain silent during the sexual relations under penalty of seeing its future child stammer.

"We never had a complaint"

Edited by the city of Kütahya, Marriage and Family Life is also distributed free of charge by the City Council of Pamukkale, a town in the southwest of Turkey. To the dismay of the local opposition, which denounced the retrograde and violent content of the work.

In the parliament, Fatma Kaplan Hurriyet, an elected member of the secular party, took an open position against the book, which "represents women as second-class citizens and defines them as sexual slaves."

She also called for the two mayors who distribute Marriage and Family Life to be prosecuted. The two elected members are members of the conservative AKP, which includes Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Faced with the extent of the polemic, the Turkish Minister of Education described the work as "primitive and non-scientific". This does not prevent the Mayor of Kütahya from camping on his positions. "We have given it to the newlyweds since 2014 and we have never had any complaints," he said.

Women's rights more and more threatened

Since the arrival of Recep Tayyip Erdogan as President of Turkey, associations are constantly alarmed by the regression of women's rights in the country. Accused of encouraging domestic violence by its decision openly conservative position on women , Turkish President has repeatedly been singled out for its misogynistic outputs . Thus, in November 2014, he did not hesitate to rely on the reading of the Koran to justify the superiority of men over women. "I know there will be some who will be embarrassed, but for me the woman is above all a mother," he added.

Regularly attacking the feminist movements he represses, he also said on March 8 that "the two sexes could not be treated in the same way because it is against human nature." In August 2014, he also tried to limit the right to abortion.

In November 2016, the Erdogan government had attempted to pass a law to decriminalize sexual assault of a minor if the defendant marries the victim. Faced with the outcry in Turkey and his condemnation by the international community, he had finally suspended the bill.

Video - Saudi Arabian Islamic Researcher Muhammad Al-Tawbah: Jews, West behind Islamophobia, Gay Rights

Video - Saudi Arabian Islamic Researcher Muhammad Al-Tawbah: Jews, West behind Islamophobia, Gay Rights. Memri.

Islamic researcher Muhammad Al-Tawbah said, in a recent TV interview, that the Jews, whose "interests are threatened" by the presence of the Muslim immigrants in Europe, "have a great interest in causing aversion of Muslims and in banning a Muslim from owning a newspaper, for example.

" Speaking on the Saudi Al-Majd TV channel on August 21, Al-Tawbah said: "[The Jews] are now peddling their suffering. Six million were burnt... Fine, what are you doing in Palestine?"

He also complained that the West supports homosexual and women's rights in the Arab world. "They give women rights that were not prescribed by Allah – a Muslim woman rules in her home more than Obama rules America," Al-Tawbah said.

Video - Captured ISIS Fighter Talks about Use of Slave-Girls as Rewards for Fighters

Syrian Women burn black burqas once delivered from the atrocity by ISIS occupation.

Syrian Women burn black burqas once delivered from the atrocity by ISIS occupation. (jinhanews).

MANBIJ - More than 3000 civilians those who have been rescued from ISIS, reached liberated areas in the morning. Women first took off black burqas and burned them against the atrocity of ISIS.

More than 3000 civilians have been rescued in the El Neîmî Neighborhood of Manbij from ISIS by Manbij Military Council. The civilians were taken to Sawana safe area.

The fighters liberated the bridge opened to El Kecli Neighborhood, El Bizar Avenue and El Neîmî Neighborhood yesterday. 3000 civilians, who were used as shields by ISIS, have been rescued by council fighters after violent clashes broke out in El Cezire Avenue. Rescued civilians were taken to liberated areas.

Rescued women first took off black burqas and burned them against the atrocity of ISIS.

Meanwhile, violent clashes and operation continue in Manbij.

Indian women 'sold' like products in a retail shop in Gulf states for $1,500. Andhra minister

Indian women 'sold' like products in a retail shop in Gulf states for $1,500. Andhra minister. (IE).

"Instructions should be issued to Indian embassy officials in Gulf countries to interfere in the matter and provide necessary help in terms of food, clothing and shelter," he wrote.

Women domestic workers from Andhra Pradesh are languishing in jails in the Gulf states after attempting to flee abusive employers or overstaying their visas, said Palle Raghunatha Reddy, minister for non-resident Indian welfare, urging the national government to help them.

In a letter to Sushma Swaraj, Reddy called for action to bring back the women. “Necessary steps should be initiated to bring them to their native areas safely by providing free travel and necessary visa documents at the earliest possible (opportunity). Instructions should be issued to Indian embassy officials in Gulf countries to interfere in the matter and provide necessary help in terms of food, clothing and shelter,” he wrote.

Government figures show there are an estimated six million Indian migrants in the six Gulf states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Oman. These include women who leave their villages to take up jobs overseas paying up to three times more than in India, putting their fate in the hands of recruitment agents, who often dupe them.

-In some cases, they do not have exit visas. Many others have been jailed on petty offences waiting for their case to be heard, according to the Andhra Pradesh government. Women from Andhra Pradesh and the neighbouring state of Telangana “are being sold like products in a retail shop,” Reddy wrote in the letter sent last week.

“Women are being sold to the tune of 400,000 rupees ($6,000)in Saudi Arabia and between 100,000 ($1,500) to 200,000 rupees ($3,000) in Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait,” the minister wrote. He added that at least 25 women jailed in Gulf states have sought the state government’s help recently.

In response to a query in India’s parliament in March, the foreign ministry said their diplomatic missions in all six Gulf states had registered complaints of physical abuse, maltreatment, non-payment of salary, and other grievances. Requesting anonymity, a senior official in the Andhra Pradesh government said a group of ministers from the state would travel to the Gulf next month to investigate the plight of migrants from their region.

The state government is also in the process of appointing lawyers to provide legal advice to Indian prisoners in Gulf jails, the official said.

Egypt - Coptic Orthodox Church and Islamic University of Al-Azhar join together against child abuse and Child marriage.

Source.

Egypt - Coptic Orthodox Church and Islamic University of Al-Azhar join together against child abuse and Child marriage. (Fides).

The Islamic University of Al Azhar - considered the most authoritative theological-academic institution of Sunni Islam - and the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate signed a programmatic document which outlined their shared commitment to fight forms of violence and abuse against children.

The joint statement, prepared under the auspices of UNICEF, was signed on Monday, May 9 by Coptic Orthodox Patriarch Tawadros II and by Sheikh Ahmed al Tayyeb, Great Imam of al-Azhar.
In the text, scholars linked to the Islamic University and the Coptic community contributed to outlining the protection of children as a common priority, shared by both the Islamic and Christian sensibility.

The campaign in favor of children and girls - refer Egyptian sources consulted by Agenzia Fides - also includes the phenomenon of genital mutilation and early marriage, and, of course, kidnapping and sexual abuse.

In addition to statements of intent, the program also provides for the active involvement of at least 850 leaders of churches and mosques - imam, priests, monks, pastoral workers - which in the current year will attend preparation courses, and then personally commit themselves in information campaigns designed to sensitize the entire population of a plague that strikes the entire Egyptian society in different forms.

According to the most alarming statistics, more than 70% of Egyptian children suffer some form of abuse and violence even within their own family and community environment. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 10/05/2016)

Iranian MP: Religious Rules Apply if Women Attend Sports Stadia.

Iranian MP: Religious Rules Apply if Women Attend Sports Stadia. (Iranfrontpage).

The views of grand ayatollahs should be considered, even if the presence of women in sports stadiums to watch certain matches does not face any opposition, MP Ali Motahhari has said.

Motahhari, a member of the Majlis Cultural Committee, also said if women are going to attend sports stadiums, religious rules should still be observed, Fararu reported on Monday.

For instance, women should enter sport complexes from separate entrances, and their seats should not be very near men’s, the MP explained.

Referring to women’s attendance at volleyball matches in the past, he said there was no particular problem in this regard, and only that religious rules should be taken into account.

The Interior Ministry and the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs are preparing a bylaw for the presence of women in sporting events, Motahhari said.

Although the vice president for women and family affairs Shahindokht Molaverdi has great efforts for women’s entry into sporting arenas, women were not allowed to watch the 2015 FIVB Volleyball World League in Tehran.


Quoting materials from Iran Front Page is permitted only if the source is mentioned by name.

Video - Saudi Family Therapist Khaled Gives Advice on Wife Beating, The 'Women's Desire for Equality Causes Marital Strife'.

Video - Saudi Family Therapist Khaled Gives Advice on Wife Beating, The 'Women's Desire for Equality Causes Marital Strife'. Memri.

In an online video, Saudi family therapist Khaled Al-Saqaby imparted advice on marital strife. Beating one's wife, said Al-Saqaby, should be intended as a means of discipline, rather than to vent one's anger, and should be carried out not with a rod or a sharp object, but with a tooth-cleaning twig or a handkerchief. "Unfortunately, some wives want to live a life of equality with their husband," he said. "This is a very grave problem." The video was posted on the Internet on February 24, 2016.

Women will be ‘exposed to evil’ if allowed to drive, says Saudi grand mufti.

Women will be ‘exposed to evil’ if allowed to drive, says Saudi grand mufti. (ET).

Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh has defended a ban on female drivers, saying it is “a dangerous matter that exposes women to evil”.

Men with “weak spirits” and who are “obsessed with women” could cause female drivers harm, the Grand Mufti a told religious television channel, Almajd, according to the The Telegraph.

The top cleric added that it would also make it difficult for family members to know about their whereabouts.

Apart from women’s rights, the Grand Mufti has also spoken on a range of other matters. In March, he forbid Muslims in Saudi Arabia from playing chess, claiming it shows “enmity and hatred”.

Last year, women’s rights campaigner Loujain al-Hathloul received a 10-week jail sentence after she drove from the United Arab Emirates to the Saudi border in protest of the ban.

Video - Yazidi Teen Who Escaped from ISIS Captivity Recounts Her Harrowing Experiences.

Pakistan - Islamist Religious parties warn of 1977-like riots if Women protection law stays.

Pakistan - Islamist Religious parties warn of 1977-like riots if Women protection law stays. (ExpressTribune).

Religious parties warned the government on Tuesday of a nationwide protest movement if the controversial women’s protection act of Punjab was not withdrawn by March 27.

Describing the Protection of Women Against Violence Act as ‘un-Islamic’, the religious groups convened another meeting on April 2 in Islamabad to decide their future course of action.

Representatives of more than 35 religious parties huddled in Mansoora, Lahore, for an All-Pakistan Ulema Conference organised by the Jamaat-e-Islami and unanimously condemned the women’s protection law.

They called upon the government to re-introduce the law, accommodating the recommendations of the Council of Islamic Ideology, which advises parliament on the compatibility of laws with Islam. It has already declared the act un-Islamic. The government has formed a consultation committee to mull over possible amendments.

The Protection of Women against Violence Act passed last month gives legal protection to women from domestic, psychological and sexual violence. It recommends creating a toll-free abuse reporting  hotline, shelters for women and district-level panels to investigate reports of abuse. It also allows using GPS bracelets to keep track of offenders.

A joint declaration after Tuesday’s conference said statements given by government officials on the women’s protection law and Mumtaz Qadri’s hanging were against the Sharia, the ideology of Pakistan and its Constitution.

Pakistan was founded on the principles of Islam and the Objectives Resolution, it said, adding that all religious parties would thwart all efforts to make Pakistan a liberal or secular state.

The resolution claimed the law would increase the divorce rate in society and result in damaging the traditional family structure. It also said that the law was introduced in an effort to Westernise the country.

The leaders called for the proper implementation of the existing laws on violence against women instead of introducing un-Islamic laws.

Of the 76 women lawmakers of the Punjab Assembly, only 44 were present at the time of legislation. PTI’s Shunila Ruth was one of them. “I fail to understand the hue and cry. There is a perception that this law has somehow challenged the masculinity of men in our society,” she said.

Punjab Assembly’s Standing Committee on Gender Mainstreaming Chairperson Raheela Khadim believes not just the law but the women supporting it also were facing criticism. “Women are usually snubbed in the society and this attitude is present even in the upper echelons of the society. An example would be the criticism being faced publicly by women supporting the law.”

One of the many women behind the law, Azma Bukhari says despite the growing opposition, the law is in no danger. “There are so many contradictions in the concerns raised. There is no answer over which clause of the law is un-Islamic,” said the PML-N lawmaker, also the chairperson of the standing committee on Law and parliamentary affairs. Hmmm........Welcome to Anno Domini 660. Read the full story here.

Europe Human Rights court slams Turkey for barring blind girl from music school.

Source: Turkey...'Worst human rights violator in Europe'

Europe Human Rights court slams Turkey for barring blind girl from music school. (AlAhram).

The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday condemned Turkey for refusing a blind girl admission to Istanbul's National Music Academy, ordering Ankara to pay her 10,000 euros ($11,000) in damages.

The girl, who was born in 1989, applied to the school in 2004 and although she was "completely qualified for admission", it refused to enrol her "based solely on the fact that she was blind".

The teenager, who plays the "baglama" which is a type of lute, had passed all of the entrance exams, but the school denied her entry in a clear case of "discrimination on the grounds of disability".

Although she had presented a medical certificate from a hospital concluding that she could attend lessons in the sections of the music academy where eyesight was not required, it was rejected by the academy, the court said.

"By refusing to enrol (her) without considering the possibility of accommodating her disability, the national authorities had prevented her, without any objective and reasonable justification, from benefiting from a musical education," in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights, the ruling said.

Turkey has three months to ask for a review of the case, but the European court is not obliged to grant it.  Hmmm.....It will take another century before Turkey reaches the European human rights level, meanwhile keep them out of Europe.

Iranian youth get app to dodge morality police.

Iranian youth get app to dodge morality police.  (ET).

An anonymous team of Iranian app developers have come to the rescue of young fashion conscious Iranians by helping them avoid the country’s notorious morality police known as “Ershad” or guidance.

The new app called ‘Gershad’ will alert users to Ershad checkpoints and help them to avoid them by choosing a different route. Ershad’s mobile checkpoints which usually consist of a van, a few men and one or two women, are deployed in towns across Iran and appear with no notice.

“Police need to provide security for the citizens not to turn into a factor for fear. A while ago, angry with such unreasonable oppressions, we looked for a solution to find a practical way to resist the volume of injustices peacefully with low risk level, to restore part of our freedom”, wrote one of the creators on their Facebook page.

Another added, “Why do we have to be humiliated for our most obvious right which is the right to wear what we want? Social media networks and websites are full of footage and photos of innocent women who have been beaten up and dragged on the ground by the Ershad patrol agents.”

Gershad, a play on the Persian word Ershad, or “guidance,” translated roughly to “getting around the guidance patrol”, gave Iranian women a short-lived chance to wear what they wanted without worrying about getting stopped on Monday, until it was blocked by Iranian authorities on Tuesday.

It works by plotting the location of morality police checkpoints on maps of different Iranian cities. After enough users report seeing morality police at the same location, a cartoonish icon of a morality officer pops up on the map, alerting users of places they may want to avoid.

The app, free for Android users on Google’s app store, had over a 1,000 downloads and had received hundreds of five-star ratings and positive reviews in just one day.

An Iranian human rights group reported they were taking steps to get the app back online.

Video - Danish female journalist on rapes and terrorism: We need men “that can stand up, who can fight back”

Video - Female Pakistani Teacher Defies Threats To Bring Education To Pakistan's Poorest Kids.

She is a teacher bringing education to some of Pakistan's most vulnerable children. Thousands of kids live in the slums of the country's capital, Islamabad, without any access to education. But one woman, Chand Bibi, is on a courageous mission to change that. Hmmmm....... As i always say: "It's brave women who will change #Islam, not men" 

 "Only the Educated are free" - Epictetus, Discourses Roman (Greek-born) slave &  Stoic philosopher (55 AD - 135 AD) .

Saudi Arabia - Female councilors get death threats for attending meetings with male counterparts

Saudi Arabia - Female councilors get death threats for attending meetings with male counterparts. (ArabNews).

Two women members of the Jeddah municipal council have received death threats on their phones because they insisted on sitting at the same table with men at a council meeting.

Lama Al-Suleiman and Rasha Hefzi had on Jan. 6 refused to sit behind an opaque glass partition and wanted to join the male councilors at a conference table. Some of the men had objected and they then sat at the back of the meeting room.

Council sources were quoted as saying that people making these threats are extremists and should not be tolerated. The women members have every right to attend meetings as equals with the men, they were quoted as saying by a local publication on Tuesday.

Ehab Al-Suleiman, a legal adviser, said the country’s security agencies have the ability to track down these individuals. They should be arrested and prosecuted for these threats.

He said there was no law barring women from sitting at the same table with men at council meetings. This was improper and unreasonable and a violation of their rights. Those men objecting to this should resign from their positions for violating the country’s royal decrees, he said.

HT And Source:

Following their election, women councilors get death threats #SaudiArabia https://t.co/INcotW7xUo @DR_SHAHID pic.twitter.com/Lqq0pPY1dy

— маяковский (@moscow_ghost) January 27, 2016

Another 'major step' forward in #SaudiArabia First family IDs for women (without husbands) https://t.co/tr0fl8YynM pic.twitter.com/b3oqsgMU1Q

— маяковский (@moscow_ghost) January 27, 2016

'EU Needs Fence on Bulgaria, Macedonia Borders with Greece to Stop Migrants' Hungarian PM Orban.

'EU Needs Fence on Bulgaria, Macedonia Borders with Greece to Stop Migrants' Hungarian PM Orban. (Novinite).

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said that the EU needs a fence along Greece’s borders with Macedonia and Bulgaria to cope with the ongoing migrant influx and save the bloc’s Schengen area of passport-free travel.

"If we cannot secure the outer border (of the EU), regardless of how costly or demanding that is, we will destroy the Schengen regime by ourselves," Reuters quoted Orban as saying during a visit to Slovenia on Friday .

Two weeks ago, Orban told Hungary’s public radio that Bulgaria, which is bordering Greece to the north, should be admitted into Schengen Area because the EU’s deal with Turkey to stem the flow of migrants into Europe in exchange for possible financial aid of EUR 3 B wouldn’t be enough to deter migrant pressure.

Hungary's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has also called for talks with Bulgaria and Macedonia to curb the migrant inflow as the EU’s southern frontiers– and particularly Greece’s long maritime border - were still wide open to the ongoing influx of migrants and refugees from the Middle East and Africa.

David Boss: "Now imagine 1 billion inhabitants, imagine they all move north towards Europe.”

David Boss: "Now imagine 1 billion inhabitants, imagine they all move north towards Europe.” (Bloomberg).

The founder of the World Economic Forum, which will hold its annual meeting this weekend in Davos, Switzerland, is predicting that falling oil prices could worsen the migrant crisis and bring chaos to Europe.

As the crash in commodities prices spreads economic woe across the developing world, Europe could face a wave of migration that will eclipse today’s refugee crisis, says Klaus Schwab, executive chairman of the World Economic Forum.

“Look how many countries in Africa, for example, depend on the income from oil exports,” Schwab said in an interview ahead of the WEF’s 46th annual meeting, in the Swiss resort of Davos. “Now imagine 1 billion inhabitants, imagine they all move north.”

“First, we have to look at the root causes of this,” Schwab said. “The normal citizen today is overwhelmed by the complexity and rapidity of what’s happening, not only in the political world but also the technological field.”

That sense of dislocation has fueled the rise of radical political leaders who tap into a rich vein of anger and xenophobia. For reason to prevail, Schwab said, “we have to re-establish a sense that we all are in the same boat.”

Schwab warns that technological innovation may result in the loss of 20 million jobs in the coming years. Those job cuts risk “hollowing out the middle class,” Schwab said, “a pillar of our democracies.” Read the full story here.

German journalist reveals: 'German broadcaster WDR had to be positive about refugees'.

German WDR journalist Claudia Zimmermann reveals: 'German broadcaster had to be positive about refugees'. (HLN)[GoogleTranslated].

Journalists of the German broadcaster WDR have been instructed to broadcast positive messages about the refugees. This claimed Claudia Zimmermann, journalist of the WDR in Aachen, on the Dutch radio program 'The Mood'.

Committees that determine the government policy in broadcasting have given journalist orders to support the Merkel government policy.

According to Zimmerman this was especially true during the initial phase of the so-called 'Wilkommenskultur'  of a positive approach to the refugee issue by the TV station.

"We are a public broadcaster that is paid for with tax money," said the journalist. "It is therefore not surprising that we interpret the sound of the government."

After the mass rapes in Cologne and other German cities things changed. "Now let's hear critical voices," says Zimmerman. According to her, in Germany does not constitute a so-called 'silent cartel.

"Bewildered and  perplexed WDR has  responded and contradicted the claims of the freelance collaborator. "Our journalists work completely independently," said spokeswoman Ingrid Schmitz.

Zimmerman for her part, has come back on her earlier statements after the reaction of WDR. "Under pressure from the live event that one radio program entails, I mouthed nonsense," she hinted.

Germany's SPD: "We need a multi-billion-euro package to integrate refugees in Germany"

You can't integrate oil into Water.

Germany's SPD: "We need a multi-billion-euro package to integrate refugees in Germany". (DS).

Germany needs to raise spending on police, education and daycare by at least 5 billion euros ($5.45 billion) to successfully integrate a record number of asylum seekers and avoid social tensions, its deputy government leader said Monday.

Speaking after a meeting of senior Social Democrats (SPD), the coalition partner in Chancellor Angela Merkel's government, Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said Berlin must avoid social strife in light of the rising numbers of mainly Muslim refugees.

"We can only manage the double task of integration, namely accommodating the new arrivals and also preserving the cohesion of our society, if we have a strong state capable of acting," said Gabriel, SPD party leader and economy minister.

He called for a joint effort by the federal and state governments as well as municipalities to share the task of integrating the hundreds of thousands of refugees whose asylum applications are approved.

"We need an additional 9,000 police in Germany, 25,000 new teachers and 15,000 daycare workers," Gabriel said. He also called for a doubling of funds for public housing to avoid a shortage of affordable housing in urban areas.

"The costs for this integration package are around five billion euros and government, federal states and municipalities have to agree on who exactly will do what."

His proposal is likely to be approved at a planned summit of federal and state governments in the coming months. Hmmm........Good luck with that one. Read the full story here.