When Erdogan's Wife Considers Ottoman Harem as a School for Women's Education

As Turkey is deeply embroiled in internal and external political crises, the social atmosphere in the country has recently been stirred by the astonishing remarks of Emine Erdogan, the wife of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. During the program "The Role of Sultan Mothers in History," held on March 9 in Ankara with the support of the Ministry of Urban Development and Environment and the General Directorate of Archives and Properties, Mrs. Emine Erdogan referred to the harems of the Ottoman kings as a school. She suggested that the behavioral influences and roles of women throughout the six centuries of Ottoman rule could serve as a model and inspiration for today's women. She viewed the Ottoman harem as a school for family members where women not only fulfilled the needs of the kings but also engaged in learning suitable women's crafts such as embroidery and sewing. A key point in Mrs. Erdogan's speech was her assertion that Orientalists have depicted harem women as mere instruments of the kings' pleasures and portrayed the Ottoman sultans as lustful individuals. According to Mrs. Erdogan, the primary role of women in the harem was to meet the kings' needs and manage the household, a description she extended to the responsibilities of modern women. Her remarks come at a time when several theology professors from Turkey's state universities have begun attacking the role of women, claiming that violence against women by men results from women's failure to fulfill their domestic duties. They argue that if women reclaim their roles in the home and continue their caregiving and wifely duties, many problems will be resolved. Emine Erdogan's statements have provoked strong reactions from women's groups and female representatives in the Turkish parliament. Yasemin Oney Cankurtaran, Deputy Chair of the Republican People's Party, sharply criticized Emine Erdogan's comments in a press conference, stating that "we have reached a point in Turkey's socio-political history that is considered a dead end. Her remarks do not align with our culture. How can the president's wife speak in defense of Byzantine culture? Her statements are not a failure of reason but a sign of her intellectual stagnation." Cankurtaran emphasized that women in the Ottoman harems were taken captive from conquered lands, separated from their homes, and gifted to the kings. The Ottoman sultans not only possessed the bodies of the women in the harem but also imprisoned their minds by threatening and blocking their hopes for life and return. Earlier, Recep Tayyip Erdogan had stated at the first International Women and Justice Conference that advocating for equal rights between men and women contradicts the nature of creation. Mehmet Simsek, Turkey's Minister of Economy, also attributed unemployment in Turkey and men's inability to find work to women's presence in various social and economic fields, suggesting that if women performed their primary duties and did not work for low wages, men would take their places, allowing women to positively impact necessary contributions to solving unemployment. Similar views were expressed by Melih Gokcek, the Mayor of Ankara, who attributed reasons for assaults or disrespect towards women to their employment outside the home. The most shocking statements regarding women's rights emerged in Turkish media when Zafar Oston, a representative of the Justice and Development Party, criticized abortion, stating, "The rapist is much more innocent than a woman who has been raped and aborts her fetus!" With Emine Erdogan's recent remarks, criticism has been directed towards the Justice and Development Party, as the series of views held by Turkish political officials associated with the party indicate a mindset aimed at changing social structures through cultural impositions. Meanwhile, experts in Turkey have noted that despite political leaders' emphasis on moral principles and the use of social control tools to prevent societal issues, the rate of violence against women has increased by 1400% over the 12 years of the Justice and Development Party's rule. The case of Ozge Can Aslan, a student who was killed by a minibus driver while returning to her dormitory in Mersin, exemplifies this crisis. According to statistics released by the Human Rights Association in Turkey, 38% of women have experienced sexual harassment, and a woman is assaulted every four hours. The same source indicates that in 2015 alone, 294 women lost their lives due to male violence, while 84% of women and girls did not report their experiences due to fear of their families.