Petition Calling For Apology From Arınç Collects Thousands Of Signatures

A petition calling for a formal apology from Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç has collected over 45,000 signatures on Change.org for remarks he directed at Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Nursel Aydoğan in Parliament on Wednesday.

“Lady, quiet!” Arınç told Aydoğan, who interrupted the deputy prime minister as he was delivering a speech during an extraordinary session held to discuss recent terrorism incidents in the country. After Aydoğan continued to interrupt him, Arınç told her, “As a woman you must be quiet.”

The petition stated, “We invite all men and women who do not accept the sexist world Bülent Arınç lives in to sign on to this campaign.”

It also noted, “Join us in our call to request that Bülent Arınç apologize,” and encouraged the use of the hashtag #BirKadınOlarakSusmayacağız (Wewillnotbequietaswomen).

This is not the first time Arınç has been criticized and accused of being sexist. Arınç also drew criticism from women last year when he urged women not to laugh in public to "protect moral values."

Arınç, one of the co-founders of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party (AK Party), said at the Eid al-Fitr celebration marking the end of Ramadan: "A woman should be chaste. … She should not laugh in front of everyone and not be inviting in her behavior. She should protect her honor."

The Association for Education and Supporting Women Candidates (KA-DER) released a written statement to condemn Arınç for his sexist remarks, accusing Arınç of engaging in “verbal violence against women.”

Referring to Arınç's previous sexist remarks, KA-DER stated, “Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç continues to use women-hating, discriminatory, sexist, degrading and alienating rhetoric against women.”

The statement said Arınç had previously warned women about how they should behave in society and that in the recent incident he “ordered” a female lawmaker to be quiet.

“Arınç is not alone! He is just one of those representatives and spokespeople of a mindset which questions women's participation in politics and society, their statements, body, style of dress and lifestyle, and tries to impose its own lifestyle and ideology on women. This mindset is one of the main reasons behind the violence against women and murders of women,” the statement reads.

KA-DER also called on Arınç to apologize to all women, highlighting that this mindset will not be able to “silence the voice of women.”

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)