As you correctly point out, Tracy, speaking of Turkey in the same way as other nations with historically Muslim traditions is just misguided and wrong. Since 1922 the legal position of women in Turkey has rivaled any Western country. Charles (and Tracy, whom I'm sure is reading)....I'll tell you what's misguided: the statement "since 1922...". But I'll get to that a little later.
Just because Turkey isn't as bad as Iran doesn't mean they've fallen seriously short of the type of standing you seem to be giving it, and it doesn't mean there haven't been critical incidents where the culture/religion has badly tained their legal processes. A "legal position" is about as valuable as the wad of paper you wipe your behind with, if it's not backed up with meaningful action. That is not just my position - it is the official position of the U.S. State Department and several human rights activist groups in Europe.
If you dig a little deeper, you'll find that Turkey is neither as secular nor as progressive as you believe - and their govt is far more passive towards violence against women than you realize. As a matter of fact, countless organizations in Europe (and in the U.S.) state that Turkey has been very slow to actually implement/uphold their own laws.
Here are some pieces of information that I think you'll both find interesting:
1) For starters, in 2009, the European Court of Rights ripped Turkey for failing to sufficiently prosecute a man who abused his wife, and murdered his mother-in-law. The murdered woman's daughter tried to get the case noticed since 1995, when her stepfather and husband began to beat her and threaten her mother. The EU found Turkey guilty of not protecting the woman's right to life, for not protecting her against torture and inhuman/degrading treatment, and for discriminating against her because she was a woman.
Here is a very well-written news story on it (also reported by the Wall Street Journal)...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8092139.stm 2) This is consistent with reports from the U.S. State Department that even after promises of "tougher" laws and sentences in Turkey for men convicted of beating women, Turkish police officers have either ignored reports of domestic violence, or told the women (and even daughters) to return to their husbands/fathers. This is one explanation for why women (especially those living outside the major areas) are so reluctant to report domestic violence.
3) Even as recently as the last 5 years, a man convicted of rape in Turkey could have his sentence either greatly reduced or even wiped out, if he married the woman. In 2002, this took place over 500 times.
There have been attempts to adopt a new Penal Code to tighten this up, but this hasn't stopped the culture from tainting the judicial process. For instance, to this day, raping a non-virgin is viewed differently than raping a virgin. Yet another instance where religion and culture taint the justice system.
4) It took Turkey until 1998 to overturn a law that criminalized adultery. In 2008 there was a major push in Parliament to revive the original law.
5) Another nasty issue in Turkey: Honor Killings (killing a female family member for allegedly being unchaste)....according to Women's Advocacy groups in Europe, the new Parliament wording (intended to get "tougher" on this) is still vague enough that the defense of "tradition" is a mitigating factor.
Additionally, male minors as young as early teens have carried out these family executions, knowing the sentences will be much much lighter. Yes, there have been some publicized cases where a Turkish judge (in a rare act of moral courage) sentenced an entire family to life in prison for an honor killing. But that has been more the exception than the rule. In addition, many believe that some female suicides are in fact "honor killings", and the police do not investigate.
If you want to read a report on "honor killings" that will make you sick to your stomach, read this:
http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/2004/04/30/story641772272.aspAnd take note of this:
But a loophole in the laws allows relatives to escape with reduced sentences as light as eight years if they can prove they were “provoked” into committing the crime. 6) In the case of the original story I posted.....yes, the woman (Sidika Platin) technically withdrew her complaint. But there's more to it than that. She is an ethnic Kurd who speaks no Turkish, and according to eyewitness accounts, she did not understand the judge/prosecutor, and relied on her husband to translate everything. Additionally, just prior to that, a local criminal court judge asked that Sidika and her children be handed back to the man who beat her to begin with, because he "showed remorse".
6) So, regarding your statement, "Since 1922 the legal position of women in Turkey has rivaled any Western country"....I don't think I need to say any more.
I actually had about 5 more points to go - but I think I've more than made my point.
Turkey might not be as bad as Iran (and I never said they were), but I've more than stated my case that Turkey's political process and system of justice are badly tainted by culture and religion. Additionally, in my opinion, Turkey's attempts to put laws in the books to begin with are as much (or even more) bargaining chips, intended to curry favor with the EU.
I'm not saying the West is perfect...we certainly aren't, far from it. But I absolutely disagree with any statement comparing a woman's legal position in Turkey to that of the West.
