Job Discussion Forums

[tararu]

The Gen� party gave out bank accounts from Imar bank with 50lira in them to people so that they would vote for the Gen� party in the last general election. Hence, l don't believe that it is so much of a mental leap to suppose that some Islamic groups would do the same. Religious people are not always moral. The two don't just go hand in hand because God's involved.

[Alexius]

[Alexius]

[Shaytess]

Hm. I wish I had the nerve (and the Turkish) to go ask some headscarf girls about this. Like I said originally, it was several students (5 of them, actually) who swore up and down to me that this was true. I will ask them next week if they actually know someone personally who has been offered money to wear the headscarf. Of course the students that said this were staunchly secular people, so it definitely could be an urban legend.

As a kind of newbie, I am interested to hear other Istanbul urban legends. I have already heard from 3 different groups of students about the friend of the friend who woke up in an icy bath missing vital organs. That one might not be limited to Istanbul, though.

Oh, and of course (being American) I've heard the one about America's plans to invade and occupy Turkey ANY DAY NOW.

[justme]

[Baba Alex]

hmmm, Interesting points there Alexius,

I haven't hung around in many Islamic circles in Istanbul, rather, my Turkish friends tend to be Atheists. I'd agree that most Muslims who adhere to clothing beliefs do so because that is their faith, the way that they were brought up, or a personal choice.

But there is such thing as political Islam, just as claiming to be an Atheist can also be a political statement. Secularism is a political ideology, not a religious one, and rightly or wrongly, Turkish citizens claim to be excluded from the educational / state system because of the way they choose to dress, this is also a political statement.

The banning of religious symbolism in certain institutions is becoming a hotly debated topic across Europe and is also affecting Christians. Demanding the right, as many people are across many countries and religions, to display one religion in all walks of life, be it a woman wishing to wear a cross whilst working on an aeroplane, or a Turkish student wish to wear a headscarf in a university, is certainly political.

I count myself lucky because I was able to reject my subscribed religion, Catholicism, but I would never encourage anyone else to do the same. The freedom to choose one's faith is not simply about being able to display one's faith, but also to be in a situation where outside pressures do not cloud your judgement when it comes to these factors.

A friend told me that back in 1998 she was on a service bus and a group of police got on and asked the women why they felt the need to work and expose their heads. That's scary stuff

[billybuzz]

In a twist to this issue I had to tell a couple female students to remove their head gear (baseball caps) I felt if the headscarf is banned then ANY headgear should be treated in the same way .Was I wrong to enforce that rule?,
As it happened the girls promptly removed them when I reminded them it was the law ,do you think I went a bit over the top ?

[dmb]

Not atoll Billy. At a private uni where I used to work there was one particular student who was always trying to cover up- usually with a hooded top. I would later see her in a bar drinking a beer. Just a stroppy teenager trying to politicise the issue.

[billybuzz]

Further to this point I noticed many students who wear baseball caps in the classroom and even in exams but the other teachers don't think to pull the kids up about them ,usually the girls complain of feeling unwell because they are not allowed to wash their hair at a certain time of the month .W.T.F !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[billybuzz]

So are girls who wear baseball caps closeted scarfies then ? What about the guys ?

[Baba Alex]

[billybuzz]

I'm okay with that and at the same time we can ban people who drive around with their car windows open playing crap music and smokers who ignore the signs and cat lovers and those who are obese and those whose sole conversation is their job and well look I've started something here !Lists are the order of the day here I think ! B.A care to carry on ?

[Sheikh Inal Ovar]

If true, I wonder which costs more - paying certain ladies to put garments on or paying certain others to take them off ...

We need ghost and his pencil and notebook approach to financial detail ...

[Sheikh Inal Ovar]

Speaking of burqa's and basques...

[Baba Alex]