Page 84

Turkish women wearing the hijab

Blue Mosque in Istanbul at sunset © Ricky Yates

Over the past fifteen or so years, there has been a marked increase in the number of women from Muslim families living Western societies, who have taken to wearing the hijab or headscarf. This trend, which I have previously observed when living in the UK, was very evident on the streets of Turkey during my recent visit. As I remarked at the end of my last post, this is a very obvious outward sign of the increasing Islamization of the supposedly secular state of Turkey. It is also the source of much tension and controversy within the country.

The usual explanation offered as to why most Islamic teachers insist that Muslim women should wear the hijab, is that the Koran states that women should ‘dress modestly’. This raises a number of questions. Who decides what is or isn’t modest? Why is wearing a headscarf that covers a woman’s hair and neck deemed to be modest? Why is it deemed immodest for a Muslim woman to show her hair in public?

I observed some Turkish women who wore the hijab with a loose fitting full-length coat that revealed no obvious body shape and no bare skin except the hands and face. One could reasonably argue that they were dressed modestly. But if a woman dressed in this manner was accompanied by a man, presumably their husband, then almost without exception, that man was dressed in the latest Western fashion, usually jeans and a designer shirt! A very clear case of ‘one rule for men and a completely different rule for women’. And what so many Muslim men quietly forget is that the Koran calls for women and men to dress modestly.

However, the vast majority of women wearing the hijab combine it with outfits that are predominantly the epitome of Western women’s fashion. Some will wear a shawl that goes around their shoulders and hangs down as far as their waist, thus covering the shape of their breasts. Other wear a hijab which is itself long enough to cover the upper part of their torso. But many Turkish women I observed, dressed no differently than their counterparts on the streets of Prague or London, other than wearing a headscarf covering their hair and neck.

The ultimate example I saw was a woman walking up and across the snow-white hillside and paddling in the shallow pools of warm spring water at Pamukkale. She was duly wearing her hijab. But the rest of her outfit consisted of a short-sleeved tight fitting tee-shirt, with silvery decoration on the front that very much emphasised her breasts, together with skin-tight low waisted jeans which revealed the top half of her G-string when she bent over! What on earth was the point of her wearing a hijab? The rest of her outfit was in total contradiction to what the hijab is supposedly meant to express.

I am awfully aware that I am a male Christian minister making these observations and comments. However, I was reassured in my observations and conclusions by reading the blog of a woman, now living in Prague, who previously lived in Turkey for a year. Sezin Koehler makes very similar remarks in her blog post entitled ‘Turkish Delight Vol. 11 – Stilettos and headscarves’. Sezin clearly saw many more extreme examples than I did such as bare midriffs, miniskirts and stiletto-healed boots combined with a hijab. She too points out the utter contradiction of women wearing such outfits.

As part of his efforts to modernise Turkey and bring it, sometimes kicking and screaming, into the twentieth century, Ataturk banned the wearing of headgear by both men and women, in all government buildings which, amongst other places, includes universities. He himself, adopted western dress as an example for Turkish citizens to follow. The current Turkish government recently tried to introduce a change in the law to allow women to wear the hijab in universities. This was passed in parliament but thrown out by the constitutional court because it was deemed incompatible with Ataturk’s secular constitution.

Part of me has great reservations about laws that seek to prevent anyone from wearing something that is an expression of their faith. If you say to Muslim women that they cannot wear a hijab whilst attending classes in schools or universities, then the corollary is that Christian women should be prevented from wearing a cross in the same places. So at one level, I would want to defend a woman’s right to wear the hijab if she genuinely and personally wants to do so because she believes it to be and expression of her faith. But as I have already pointed out, there is frequently a considerable contradiction and hypocrisy on the part of many women who do so. However, it is equally true that many Western women who wear a cross, often wear it more as a fashion accessory rather than as an expression of personal faith.

What I really object to is the other reasoning given by Islamic teachers (always male!) as to why women should wear the hijab. It is to stop men looking at women as sex objects and to allay male lust because; male lust is the fault and responsibility of women! When objecting to this perverse reasoning, for once, my being a male is to my advantage.

This perverse reasoning is not confined solely to male Islamic teachers. It is used by some defence lawyers and their male clients in mitigation for the offence of rape or the attempted rape of a woman. The poor female victim is accused of being at least partly responsible for the crime committed against her because she was wearing a short skirt or a top that showed too much cleavage.

As a male, I hope that I can look at a woman who is dressed attractively and be able to say, “She looks nice”, without any need to molest her in any manner. To be able to appreciate her God given beauty rather blame her for leading me astray. To recognise women as complimentary and equal to men, rather than seeking to subjugate them. To not see women as purely a temptation to sin. For however much certain Islamic teachers may protest otherwise, the day to day practice of Islam does effectively turn women into second-class citizens and insisting that women must wear the hijab is in many ways indicative of that.

However, before being too critical about how some people dress in the Islamic world, it should be said that we in the West can often also be far too concerned about the way we and other people look. Why is it that many politicians now use image consultants? I am always reminded of the words of God to Samuel the prophet as recorded in the Old Testament. “The Lord does not look at the things human beings look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart”. 1 Samuel 16 v7

What matter most is not our outward dress or appearance but our inner motives and attitudes.

Blue Mosque in Istanbul through fountain © Ricky Yates

The Islamization of Turkey

Aya Sophia in Istanbul © Ricky Yates. Originally built as a Church, it was converted to a mosque with the addition of minarets after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. In 1935 under the government of Ataturk, it was turned into a museum and some of the Christian mosiacs and frescoes uncovered and restored. — Aya Sophia in Istanbul © Ricky Yates. Originally built as a Church, it was converted to a mosque with the addition of minarets, after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. In 1935, under the government of Ataturk, it was turned into a museum and some of the original Christian mosiacs and frescoes uncovered and restored.

Before I continue describing and illustrating our journey back to Prague from Cappadocia in central Turkey, via Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia, Croatia again, Slovenia, Italy and Austria, I want to post a more reflective piece about Turkey and the tensions and issues that it currently faces. In many respects these are a microcosm of what increasingly divides the West, with its culture and values that are Christian in origin though becoming increasingly secular, from those countries in the Middle East, the Gulf, other parts of Asia and North Africa, where Islam is the majority religion which is increasingly being expressed and practiced in a far more extreme and militant fashion.

The Republic of Turkey came into being from the crumbling remains of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the First World War. The Ottoman Empire, being one of the so-called Central Powers of Germany, Austro-Hungary and Bulgaria, was on the losing side in WW1 and certain territorial promises were made to nations that supported the victorious allies as to those parts of the ‘sick man of Europe’ they might gain when it came to dividing up the spoils in 1918. Most notably, Greece had visions of re-establishing itself right around the Aegean Sea coast, not least because there was still a large Greek-speaking, Orthodox Christian population in the western part of what is now Turkey.

What the victorious allies, and Greece in particular, had not reckoned with was an officer in the defeated Ottoman army called Mustafa Kemel, He formed and led a national army of resistance to defend the lands where the Turks were in a majority and to thwart the allies attempts to partition the country. His forces successfully drove back and defeated the Greek army who at one time had come to within 80 km of Ankara. Eventually in July 1923, the Treaty of Lausanne was signed which brought and end to the Greek – Turkish War and later that year, the Republic of Turkey was proclaimed with Mustafa Kemel as its first president.

Mustafa Kemel took the surname Ataturk, the name by which he is far better known, which literally means ‘Father Turk’. This was one of his many reforms that he introduced. Until that time, no Turk had a surname – Ataturk made everybody have one, including himself!

Ataturk set about turning Turkey into a modern twentieth century nation state. He analysed the institutions and constitutions of France, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland and adapted and adopted different parts as best fitted the new Turkish state. One of his many reforms was introducing a new Turkish alphabet based on Latin letters rather than Arabic script to help improve literacy. He sought to raise the status of women by, amongst other things, granting them full political rights, well ahead of many European countries.

His greatest reform was to make Turkey a secular state. He established a code of civil law and abolished religious courts. He set up a system of state education with a curriculum controlled by the civil Ministry of Education, not by Islamic teachers. He did not suppress Islam – in fact he actively encouraged the translation of the Koran into Turkish, using the newly adopted Latin alphabet. But he wanted his people to be able to read the Islamic scriptures for themselves so they might understand better what Islam actually taught.

Ataturk died in November 1938 and is rightly revered as the father of the nation. He is buried in a massive mausoleum in Ankara and there are statues of him in most Turkish towns and cities. There is no question that Turkey would not be the nation it now is but for Ataturk. And yet many people now feel that his legacy is slowly being undermined.

The rise of militant or fundamentalist Islam in recent years elsewhere in the Islamic world has begun to impinge on Turkey. Ataturk always encouraged Turkey to look west to Europe and to adopt western dress and cultural patterns. The country is a member of NATO and has been in negotiations to join the EU for several years. Yet all of this is being challenged by Islamists who want the country to look east, adopt their version of Islamic culture and values and introduce Sharia law.

For the past seven years, the country has been ruled by the AKP political party whose leaders were once part of a now illegal religious party. Whilst they say they will uphold Ataturk’s principles and constitution, many believe their real agenda is an Islamist one. The governing party draws its support from the rural regions of Anatolia; the secular opposition from the middle classes of the big cities, particularly Istanbul and Izmir.

The outward expression of these two divergent cultural and political outlooks is most clearly seen in the area of female clothing and fashion, in particular the wearing of the hijab or headscarf. To this ‘political issue’, as a young Turkish couple described it to me, I shall return in my next post.

Cappadocia – The Ihlara Valley

After an interesting week here in Prague with the events marking the twentieth anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, I shall return to writing about our trip last month to Asia and back.

The final place we visited in Cappadocia was the Ihlara Valley. This lies about 40km south-west of Derinkuyu and was somewhere I had not visited during my 1975 trip. It is located near Mount Hasan and Mount Melendiz, two of the now extinct volcanoes whose past eruptions have left Cappadocia covered with volcanic lava and ash. The Ihlara Valley or Gorge has been formed by the Melendiz River cutting down through this soft rock to depth of around 100metres over a distance of some 14km.

There are a limited number of access points to the valley. The one we used was about 4km from the village of Ihlara, adjacent to a cliff top restaurant overlooking the valley. Here we ate a late lunch following our morning exertions exploring the underground city at Derinkuyu. From the side of the restaurant there is a series of more than 300 steps that are part of the route that leads down to the valley floor. Walking down, I was very conscious that at the end of the visit, I would have to walk back up from whence I’d come!

Church carved into the cliffside of the Ihlara Valley © Ricky Yates

Within the Ihlara Valley, as in the much more famous Göreme Valley, there are a series of ancient Churches carved into the soft rock of the cliff sides. Like the Göreme Valley Churches, those in the Ihlara Valley are also decorated with frescoes and paintings. Unfortunately, this ancient artwork has suffered much more than in Göreme, from both the natural elements of rain and damp, as well as mindless vandalism. Only recently has the area been made secure with an entry fee being charged and the valley closed at night.

Unfortunately, there are not staff supervising each of the Churches to prevent idiots carving their names, or deal with visitors ignoring notices about not using flash when taking photographs, to avoid any further damage to the paintings. The legible carved names on both the Church walls and the helpful signposts to the different Churches were almost without exception, Turkish names. I was left to wonder if those self-same people would dare do the same thing to the decoration on the wall of a mosque. I think I know the answer to my question!

We only had a little over two hours to explore the valley before the light began to fade. Sunlight disappears far earlier at the valley floor because of the surrounding high cliffs. It would have been wonderful to walk the length of the valley and visit far more Churches than the few we were able to visit before returning up those 300+ steps!

The Velvet Revolution – 20 years on

Charcoal roasted ham being cooked on Old Town Square © Ricky Yates

Yesterday, Tuesday 17^th November 2009, marked the twentieth anniversary of the start of the events that led to the ‘Sametová Revoluce’, the Velvet Revolution, which saw the demise of the Communist government that had ruled Czechoslovakia for previous forty one years. As I mentioned in my recent blog post about Holidays and Celebrations in the Czech Republic, 17^th November is now kept as a public holiday entitled ‘Struggle for Freedom and Democracy Day’.

Although not a Czech and having only lived here for 14 months, I was still interested to see how the momentous events of twenty years ago would be celebrated. So early yesterday afternoon, Sybille and I set out from our flat and travelled by bus and Metro to the centre of Prague, in order to soak up the atmosphere.

One thing the Czechs have become very good at is attaching a midweek public holiday to the nearest weekend and thus creating a long weekend. Therefore most schools and university faculties were also closed on Monday 16^th as students and staff were granted a Headteachers/Deans holiday. As one Czech parent said to me, “If it wasn’t granted as a holiday, most people would take it as one anyway!”

However, in contrast to those enjoying a four-day weekend, most retail outlets were open on Tuesday. Our local Billa Supermarket had a notice declaring that on 17^th November they would be open ‘normal Tuesday hours’. In Prague city centre, most shops, not just those aimed at tourists, were also open as normal for business. Twenty years on from the fall of communism, the capitalist free-market has well and truly established itself in the Czech Republic!

Display Board explaing the events of 1989 © Ricky Yates — Display Board explaining the events of 1989 © Ricky Yates

We went first to Staromestské námestí/Old Town Square where we understood various attractions had been laid on. We stupidly arrived two minutes too late and missed out on the thirty minute period when beer was being sold at the communist era price of just under 3 Kc for 0.5l. In UK terms that is about 10p a pint! However, we did enjoy some ham that had been freshly charcoal roasted over an open fire, accompanied by a cold beer. But for that privilege, we had to pay nearer the 2009 tourist price.

We then walked across to Václavské námestí/Wenceslas Square. At the Muzeum end of the square, were a series of display boards explaining in Czech and English, the events of 1989 that culminated in the capitulation of the Communist government and the election of the dissident playwright Václav Havel, as President on 29^th December that year. The first of these events were students gathering in Wenceslas Square to mark the twentieth anniversary of the self-immolation of Jan Palach on 19^th January. This and subsequent gatherings in what has become known as ‘Palach Week’, were forcibly dispersed by the National Security Corps officers using batons and water cannons.

Candles and flowers at the memorial to Jan Palach & Jan Zajic © Ricky Yates

Between the site of the display boards and the towering statue of Sv. Václav/St. Wenceslas on his horse, there is a small memorial to Jan Palach and another self-immolator Jan Zajic. In front of the memorial, many people had laid flowers or lit votive candles and several more people came to light candles as we stood in silence in front of the memorial. It had just gone dark and the flickering light of the candles made for a quiet evocative atmosphere.

We then set off back down Wenceslas Square and turned left into Národní where the main action of the day was due to culminate. On 17^th November 1989, a large group of students who were trying to march from Albertov to Wenceslas Square, were attacked and severely beaten by riot police in Národní, the main thoroughfare from the banks of the River Vltava leading to the square. The reaction of the wider public to this violent action by the Communist authorities against their own people, was the catalyst for a series of daily demonstrations of an ever increasing size, which eventually brought about the end of the oppressive regime.

Yesterday, that march was re-enacted by several thousand people. Whilst also ending in Národní, instead of violence, more candles were lit at the site of the 1989 event, speeches were made and the national anthems of both the Czech Republic and Slovakia were sung. Suddenly, with very loud bangs and plumes of smoke, a ‘curtain’ of fireworks exploded symbolising the collapse of the Iron Curtain. Then, a street concert began, beamed and broadcast onto large screens erected at various points in the street, as well as live on Czech television.

Re-enactment of the 1989 demonstration in Národní © Ricky Yates; Note the somewhat less welcome post-communism arrival of 'Thai Massage' and the 'Admiral Casino'! — Re-enactment of the 1989 demonstration in Národní © Ricky Yates; Note the somewhat less welcome post-communism arrivals of 'Thai Massage' and the 'Crystal Palace Casino'!

One of the very good things about yesterday’s re-enactment was the number of young people who took part in it, as well as those who were re-tracing the steps that they themselves had walked twenty years before. I have often heard the complaint from numerous older Czech people who lived and suffered under the Communist regime, that the young people of today do not appreciate the freedom they have – the freedom to travel, to express their own views, to be educated rather than indoctrinated. Yesterday, at least some Czech twenty-somethings, did think it important to go out and commemorate such a significant event in the history of their country.

One rather ironic observation I noted was the role of the police. There was a sizeable police presence in central Prague overseeing yesterday’s events. They too all seemed rather young. Sybille wondered whether older officers, who might have been around twenty years ago, had been shipped off to the countryside for a few days! But instead of attacking the crowds, they were seeking to protect them, directing traffic away from streets pedestrianised for the day and ensuring that no one got hurt in the crush.

CNN News Crew in Wenceslas Square © Ricky Yates

The ultimate irony was in relation to the news media. On Wenceslas Square, we came across the mobile base for a CNN News crew. Under the awning attached to their van, they had a laptop computer set up which was showing clips of the events twenty years previously. The short bit I watched included a clip where a riot policeman deliberately comes across to the TV camera and puts his hat over the lens to try to prevent filming of the violence directed at the student protesters. Yesterday, one of the main police tasks was protecting TV vans and outside broadcasting facilities so that pictures of the events could reach the whole of the Czech Republic and the wider world!

Former Dissidents being interviewed for TV on Národní © Ricky Yates; If anyone can identify either of them, please let me know!

The Underground City at Derinkuyu

Because of the soft nature of much of the rock that covers Cappadocia, not only are there Underground Churches but also several complete Underground Cities. One of the most interesting and best preserved is at Derinkuyu in the south-west of Cappadocia, located between the cities of Nevsehir and Nigde.

The early part of the Underground City at Derinkuyu pre-dates the Christian era, parts of it belonging to the 8^th and 7^th centuries BC. It was used by Christians seeking to hide from Roman persecution during the first three centuries AD and then extended and used once more between the 5^th and 10^th centuries AD during the middle Byzantine period. Christians hid in this and other Underground Cities like it, to escape attacks from Arab Islamists which occurred from the 7^th century AD onwards.

Carved out storage facilities at Derinkuyu © Ricky Yates

Door in the form of a millstone in the Underground City © Ricky Yates

The Underground City at Derinkuyu has 11 different levels and descends to a depth of c85 metres. Within it there are rooms for food storage, kitchens, churches, stables, wine or oil presses, and shafts for ventilation. These ventilation shafts go down to the aquifer and also served as wells to provide fresh water. Large circular stones similar to millstones, could be rolled across each entrance, to prevent unwanted visitors. Such is the size of the complex, it was possible for many thousands of people to live underground within it for several months at a time.

Although first opened to the public in 1969, it is still only possible to visit 10% of the total complex. Those parts open to the public are reasonably well lit but in numerous places there is a very serious lack of headroom! It is certainly not a place to visit if you suffer in any way from claustrophobia!

The Underground City at Derinkuyu is another place I had visited during my 1975 trip and which I revisited with Sybille on Friday 16^th October 2009. During my recent visit, I was very much struck as to how nothing had really changed from how I remembered it looking on my previous visit. Inevitably, it is not that easy to photograph though I hope these accompanying images will help to give some picture of this amazing construction.

Just for Karen, who seems to be the only person regularly commenting on my blog at present, (even though I know many others read it but don’t comment), here is a picture of me sitting within the Underground City complex at Derinkuyu, taken during my 1975 visit, showing me with vastly more hair and dressed to look like a good Australian (which I’m not!), in my shorts and long white socks!

Myself in 1975 inside the Underground City at Derinkuyu © Ricky Yates