Turkish first lady says harem was 'school' for women

[MowCowWhoHow III]

Source: AFP

Ankara (AFP) - The wife of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday hailed the harem of the Ottoman sultans as "a school for preparing women for life".

Emine Erdogan's comments come a day after the president triggered protests by saying he believed that "a woman is above all a mother" in a speech marking International Women's Day.

Critics have accused Erdogan's government of trying to impose strict Islamic values on Turkey and curtailing women's civil liberties.

"The harem was a school for members of the Ottoman dynasty and an educational establishment for preparing women for life," Emine Erdogan said at an official event on the Ottoman sultans in Ankara, according to Turkish TV stations.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/turkish-first-lady-says-harem-school-women-194358334.html;_ylt=AwrC2Q6eg.BWyiQAiePQtDMD;_ylu=X3oDMTByOHZyb21tBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzcg--

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[Ducksworthy]

1. And the Eunuchs were being trained for the choir

Methinks Islamic Turkey may not be ready for EU membership, or the UN for that matter.

[eissa]

2. Typical

The Turks like to pride themselves as being "secular" and "progressive" but only because they compare themselves to their neighbors. In reality, they are hardly any better. And yet another reason -- apart from denying the genocide they committed against the Armenians, Assyrians, and Pontic Greeks -- that exemplifies why Turkey should never be allowed in the EU.

[CTyankee]

3. Their food, however, is fabulous, beautiful looking and very healthful.

We havw lots of Turks in a neighboring town and two Turkish restaurants. It is almost unfair that we have such wonderful food in two places. You have to bring your own wine, however. They don't serve it.

[alfredo]

5. I do like the Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk.

[Cleita]

8. I like Cenk Uygur, a liberal who hosts "The Young Turks".eom

[awoke_in_2003]

12. They don't object to you having it?

Very cool.

[D Gary Grady]

14. A Turkish restaurant here had a bar

Unfortunately the family-owned restaurant relocated to another city a few years ago, but it was excellent. They had a small bar and sold alcohol, and if I'm not mistaken alcohol is widely available in Turkey itself, despite being frowned on by more conservative Muslims. As with Christianity, there's a fair amount of variability in Islam. (Conservative Protestant churches campaigned against restaurant sales of "liquor by the drink" in North Carolina in the late 1970s.)

[REP]

7. Actually, their constitution states they are a secular nation

It's only recently - especially with Erdogan pandering to extremist morons - has there been a move away from secularism.

[Angel Martin]

16. not only does Turkey deny the genocide

leaders of Erdogan's political party are now obliquely referencing it as a threat to the Kurds.

http://www.the-american-interest.com/2016/03/03/turkish-pm-kurds-collaborating-with-russia-just-as-the-armenians-did/

[sarge43]

4. "a school for preparing women for life."

What life was that?

Could they leave, travel, own land, take up a profession, have a choice of husbands or ?

[nichomachus]

6. Women outside the Harem had none of that either nt

[sarge43]

10. Oh I know. Just being sarcastic

Someone trying the idiot treatment does that.

[Cleita]

9. There are lots of Turks who don't think that way. To paint them as such because their

leader is an asshole isn't fair. We may get Ted Cruz or Donald Trump as our leader. It doesn't mean that 90% of Americans are like them. None of the Republican candidates have any respect for women and probably secretly would like to go back to the barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen days.

[atreides1]

11. And yet...

Edrogan and his party are in control, seems to me that enough Turks think that way!

[Cleita]

13. So are you going to feel all Americans are jackasses if Cruz or Trump become President?

How about when GWB was President, were we all assholes then?

[Red Mountain]

19. No, of course not.

Just a majority of those who bothered to vote.

[lunatica]

15. Another reason I'm glad I live here instead of in those mysoginist countries

[Akicita]

17. Sometimes, like when you read an article like this, you really have to strain to accept

multiculturalism.

[EllieBC]

18. Or you can be honest.

And say that some cultures are garbage.

[Akicita]

20. I didn't think that was allowed.

All cultures are equal. Only our own culture can be called garbage.

[EllieBC]

21. I lost my manual. What page was that on? I feel like maybe

page 1276 or earlier.

[Akicita]

22. Sorry. Wish I could help you but I lost my manual too.

I guess we'll have to rely on all our cultural experts here on DU to guide us.

[tabasco]

23. And American cotton plantations

were fitness camps for imported African workers.