TURKEY: Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan says new regulations could be drawn up to stop male and female students living together - a move the country's opposition claims is religiously inspired interference in private life

Record ID: 217690

  • Title: TURKEY: Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan says new regulations could be drawn up to stop male and female students living together - a move the country's opposition claims is religiously inspired interference in private life
  • Date: 5th November 2013
  • Summary: ANKARA, TURKEY (NOVEMBER 5, 2013) (REUTERS) **CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY** TURKISH PRIME MINISTER TAYYIP ERDOGAN ARRIVING FOR PRESS CONFERENCE MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) TURKISH PRIME MINISTER, TAYYIP ERDOGAN, SAYING: "We have closed the period of mixed-sex dormitories. In around 75 percent of state-run dormitories we have made the arrangements. Therefore, there will b
  • Embargoed: 20th November 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAC7S20T406S4G11SX3FZI7BT7T
  • Story Text: Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan suggested on Tuesday (November 5) new regulations could be drawn up to stop male and female students living together, triggering accusations of religiously inspired interference in private life.
    Erdogan said the government had already shut down mixed accommodation in 75 percent of state-run student dormitories and would continue to do so, adding he could also authorise local governors to intervene if there were complaints about male and female students sharing private accommodation.

    "We have closed the period of mixed-sex dormitories. In around 75 percent of state-run dormitories we have made the arrangements. Therefore, there will be no dorms that boys and girls will be able to share and stay in the same place. There are serious complaints about boys and girls sharing the same flat. I leave this to your judgement," Erdogan asked at a news conference, before leaving on an official visit to Finland.

    "As a conservative democrat government, we will see what kind of regulations we can have and will look into psychological and sociological outcomes of such regulations and will evaluate complaints," he added.

    "How come a girl and a boy can stay together in a private property? Can you tolerate such a thing for your daughter or your son? When you become a mother or maybe you are a mother, if you think that is appropriate for your daughter, then I leave it to you. If a legal regulation is needed, we will make the relevant regulations," said Erdogan.
    Critics of Erdogan, whose roots are in Islamist politics, have frequently accused him of puritanical intrusiveness into private life, from his advice to women on the number of children they should have to his views on abortion.
    In power for more than a decade, his AK Party has increased its share of the vote in each of the past three elections, ushered in unprecedented political stability and overseen some of the fastest economic growth in Europe.
    But it was shaken by the fiercest anti-government protests in decades over the summer, in which demonstrators took to the streets night after night in a show of defiance at what they see as his creeping authoritarianism.
    The head of the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) - the party of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who founded the modern secular republic on the ruins of an Ottoman theocracy in 1923 - accused Erdogan of pursuing an Islamist agenda.

    "They have a plan in the back of their minds and step by step they are putting it into practice. They want to turn Turkey into a Middle Eastern country. Everybody, all our citizens, especially our women, should be aware. In Saudi Arabia women are struggling to drive cars, tomorrow don't be surprised if you face such a ban," Kemal Kilicdaroglu told a CHP parliamentary meeting in Ankara.
    On the streets of Istanbul on Tuesday local residents expressed mixed views on Erdogan's announcements.

    "It is wrong for the prime minister to pay enormous attention on whether male and female students should stay together in mixed dorms or not," said one local resident.

    "This is a cheap shot and this only shows that he is an old minded man and he is not an open-minded person. The prime minister of this country should not be concerned over this issue," he added.
    But Yigit Talayman said the issue was more widespread.

    "The danger is not posed only by mixed dorms. It is also dangerous when male students stay with other men and female students stay with other women. Nobody can claim otherwise," Talayman told Reuters TV.
    Erdogan's views on mixed student accommodation started appearing in Turkish newspapers after leaking out of a closed-door meeting of the AK Party over the weekend. His aides had sought to play down the issue, saying he was referring only to student dormitories that were not properly registered.
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