IRAN: The plight of Iranian Women and the AKP

Daily Hürriyet has recently been running a series on lifestyles in Iran, with the female dimension of the series catching the attention of two columnists: Tufan Türenç from the same paper, and Türker Alkan from daily Radikal. Both talk about the resistance women show to the rigid Islamic regime in Iran.

In a way, it is no surprise the strongest resistance comes from women, since physically they suffer the most from the regime's interpretation of Islam. “It is mandatory for women to cover themselves in Iran. But if you look at the way they cover themselves, you see they are more comfortable and freer than Turkish women who are ordered to cover by the religious sects in the country,” wrote Türenç. “Iranian women wear their headscarves leaving almost half their forehead showing. Parts of their hair are not covered. They also wear make up,” he wrote. Emphasizing the contradiction in comparing the women of the two countries, he added: “While headscarves spread in Turkey, Iranian women are putting up a serious fight against the mandatory headscarf. What a contradiction.”

Alkan approached the issue from another perspective. Basing his comments on the series published in the daily, Alkan wrote: “Mullahs have taken control of everything in society, except women. Women are resisting.”

“Wearing makeup is banned. But Iran ranks among countries spending the most amount of money on cosmetics. Spending, $2.1 billion, Iran ranks 7th in the world,” Türker quotes the series in his article. Talking about the importance of human rights as a measure of civilization, Alkan said women's rights are important not only from the perspective of democracy but of civilization as well.

That Iranian women's resistance to the Iranian regime's false conviction that you become better Muslims by covering up, avoiding makeup and listening to music can, from my and from many other people's perspectives, be applauded.

But at the end of the day, the Iranian state's interpretation of Islam remains an internal matter and not much can be done about it from outside, especially as far as bilateral relations are concerned. Not only the ruling Justice and Development Party, which probably harbors some sympathizers of the Iranian regime, but previous governments which were more sensitive to secular values, could not do anything about the consequences of the Islamic nature of the regime in the daily lives of Iranians.

Yet the government can and should do something on the plight of Sakine Muhammmed Ashtiani, who was sentenced to death by stoning following a conviction on the charge of adultery. Ashtiani's case prompted international outrage when she was initially sentenced to death by stoning. Although that threat was apparently lifted last month, she may still face execution by hanging.

Unfortunately Turkey's initial reaction has been quiet weak. Stoning is a "medieval punishment which has no role in the modern world," British Foreign Secretary William Hague said, standing next to Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, when he was asked about the case of Ashtiani at a press conference held after the two held talks in London recently.

One would have hoped to hear the same message from a minister who is known to be a pious Muslim. That would have limited the already terrible damage inflicted on the idea of Islam by Iran's regime.

As Davutoğlu is known worldwide as an academic with ample knowledge of Islam and Islamic thinking, his words would carry a greater weight and thus be more credible and convincing.

But Davutoğlu missed the opportunity to show to the world that Islam is not an uncivilized, violent religion that some believe it to be. He simply restricted himself to saying that Turkey would raise the issue with Iran. He might have spent every effort behind the scenes to save her and limited himself to vague statements in order not to hamper his influence over Iranians, however, one would trust his ability to be critical of stoning and the death penalty (by at least saying that Turkey does not approve of it and has banned the death penalty) while at the same time, with utmost care, to avoid offending Iran directly.

Now Turkey is facing a new challenge. Ashtiani's lawyer has applied for refugee status in Turkey. Known for leading an international campaign against the death penalty for minors, Muhammed Mustafa has claimed his office and house were raided and his wife and siblings were taken into custody. The government should approve his application as soon as possible.

Maybe this is to expect too much from a government that tried to penalize adultery at one stage and is headed by a prime minister who has an advisor that has three wives.