Turkish Lawmaker Blames Soap Operas For Rape

NEW DELHI: Now a Turkish lawmaker, like many of his counterparts across the world, has entered the controversy generated by the brutal rape in Turkey by suggesting that soap operas are responsible for this.

Legislator with the ruling AKP Party, Ismet Ucma, said, "You do a series where there are no boundaries between the sister-in-law and the uncle. You set no limits. Then you say rape is increasing. What do you expect?"

Ucma, who is a part of Parliamentary Committee on violence against women, said that what is portrayed in these soap operas is in contradiction of what Erdogan’s views about ideal family purport.

His remarks came in the wake of a huge uproar which followed the rape and murder of a 20 year old youth, Osgecan Aslan.

The army of supporters who marched the streets of Turkey in solidarity with the victim, and so many like her, strongly condemned the insensitivity and reactionary attitude of the current government with respect to the sovereignty of a woman’s physical and mental being.

The latest comment by the lawmaker compels one to dig into the recent history of like misfires by higher officials of the Turkish Government.

In December last year, PM Ahmet Davutoglu equated higher GDP of a nation to the higher number of suicide. He gave the example of Scandinavian countries saying that gender equality is detrimental to the overall health of any nation.

“Why is the Gross National Product in most developed countries – I don't want to name it but in Scandinavian countries and in many other countries – at the highest level on one side [GDP], but the suicide rate is also at the highest level there. Why?” he was quoted as saying by Hurriyet Daily News.

"Since our women are fulfilling that divine mission of keeping humanity alive, then they have the right to rest before and after becoming a mother and spare time for their children," he continued.

"Granting this is not a favour, it is just paying a debt”, he lastly asserted, following the legacy of Erdogan, who he hailed as “champion” of female gender.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself leads the pack with some of the most brazen ideas, which betray his anyway long exposed sexist attitude.

The “champion” of female gender once conveyed that women should have at least three children and, here comes the ultimate ‘finisher’, that, “women should not laugh in public places”.