Turkish women blast sexist laws

From the Militant,
Vol. 61, no. 10. 10 March, 1997

More than 8,000 women filled the streets of Ankara, Turkey's capital, February 15 defiantly chanting "We are women, we are strong, we are against sharia [Islamic legal code]." A February 16 Reuters dispatch reported that women's groups and opposition parties have accused Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan and his Welfare Party of trying to chip away at Turkey's official secularism and erode women's rights with a series of proposals that would impose parts of the Islamic code onto public life. Tansu Ciller, leader of the conservative True Path Party, who became Turkey's first female premier in 1993 and has joined the governing coalition with the Welfare Party, was jeered at by protesters for siding with Erbakan. "We are here, where is Tansu Ciller?" protesters shouted.

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