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Week 19 - Tuesday in Turkey - there is never a dull moment for Gul

 Edited BY


G P Kennedy

Gul - Istanbul, Turkey


 After a week-long religious holiday, the coast has become quiet again. We do all the same things, swimming, reading, walking, eating.. My nieces and brother in law went back to Istanbul, my sister’s turn next week. She’ll be going to her home after more than two months holidaying with us. I’ll miss her cooking and friendship for sure.

 

 Turkey is reopening further but corona numbers are going up. With almost 1500 new daily cases everyday, the situation is getting worse in some cities.

 

 There were many news reports this week that people were flocking to public parks and beaches and ignoring social distancing. It’s crazy how the situation is running out of hand in some places. It’s not easy in a way, because everyone wants to be out, enjoy the summer. But I don’t fall for the right wing politicians ‘blame others’ attitudes. There has never been an adequate testing in this country and the businesses reopened too early.

 

Mask as bookmark

 

People are being asked to return to work and have to use crowded public transport to go their offices & factories. My niece goes to work by taxi to protect herself and she spends her third of wages just for taxis.

 

 Turkey’s health system is alarming and some reports says is about t to collapse. This week, a surge in coronavirus cases in towns in eastern and middle regions of Turkey as well as big cities. The statements from Health Minister and doctors are not matching. So we always double up the official numbers to see the whole picture. I don’t know any country will manage to avoid a situation where hospitals are capable while at the same time to find a way to not ruin the economy. But we feel our government put the economy first.

 

SCHOOLS OPENING

 It has been decided that schools will reopen on Aug 31. The way it is now I have no idea how the reopening of the schools will look like. Most of us like, myself believes that private schools are behind this decision. Most of parents want a deduction from the education fee if the lessons are done via online. Unlike many countries there are many private schools in Turkey.

 

 Due to public school system’s weaknesses, many parents send their children to private schools with small sizes, qualified teachers, the English education and most importantly for secular education. With yearly tuition (min 10000$), expensive books, additional expenses for uniforms and lunches these schools are expensive. Most Turkish white-collar employees send their kids to the private schools. Our daughter was in the private education before we moved to the UK too.

 

 The government is pouring money into schools that teach Islamic values. Since 2002 -the ruling party became a power- religious education teaching has increased at regular state schools and some of them have been turned into religious schools. Since the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923, religious education is one of the most controversial and debated issues in my country.

 

Salma Hayek #challengeaccepted


CHALLENGE ACCEPTED

If you’re on Instagram, you might have noticed black and white images of women, along with the hastags #challengeaccepted and #womensupportingwomen.

 

 I mentioned you in my recent post that a social media campaign has started in Turkey against violence towards women. This has led a worldwide campaign as challenge accepted.

 

 Apparently this particular hashtag and selfie format is used in 2016 to increase cancer awareness but this time the viral campaign was combating violence against women in Turkey. Turkish women began posting black and white pictures of themselves following a brutal murder of young university student, Pinar Gültekin to stand in solidarity with the women we have lost also to show that one day, it could be their picture that is plastered across the news. First, I was surprised to see some of my non-Turkish friends sharing black and white photos of themselves then the campaign went viral.

 

 Celebrities Salma Hayek, Nicole Kidman and Christina Aguilera were among women who tagged their black and white selfies on Instagram. The hastag #ChallengeAccepted now has more than almost 4m shares and the hastag #womensupportingwomen has now been tagged in to 7million posts.

 

Share Their Names campaign

 

The battle for media control rages still on. On July 29, the government passed legislation enabling it to regulate social media content. The law goes into effect October 1. On the Aug 13, the government will decide whether or not to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention that a treaty aimed at preventing violence against women and LGBT.

 

 Thousands of women rallied in cities last Wednesday demanding the government cancel plans to withdraw from the Convention. It was so sad that some of women police officers used excessive force against women protesters. We know that Poland government is also trying to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention.  Right wing populism never ends so I’ll just leave it here and wish you the very best of health.

 

Women rallying in Istanbul

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