Joint Statement from 45 Women’s Organizations in Turkey

99 years have passed since Afife Jale (Turkish actress, best known as the first Muslim theatre actress in Turkey) appeared on theatre stage. A shameful incident happened in TBMM (Grand National Assembly of Turkey) on 29 March, in the commemorative ceremony of the Battle of Çanakkale. 

From the statement:

“99 years have passed since Afife Jale (Turkish actress, best known as the first Muslim theatre actress in Turkey) appeared on theatre stage.  A shameful incident happened in TBMM (Grand National Assembly of Turkey) on 29 March, in the commemorative ceremony of the Battle of Çanakkale.

According to the reporting of BirGün newspaper, an hour before performing the play prepared for commemorating 18 March (Çanakkale Memorial Day), President of the Assembly had ordered to intervene with the play. First, women were told to not hug men and women’s parts were mostly removed. 12 minutes long play was reduced to 4 minutes because of the censorship. Then, women were asked to be completely out. Female actresses were only let reading poetry, outside of the stage.

Apart from the fact that being totally unconstitutional, it is pure discrimination and humiliation. It is a crime against human dignity.

We, as women, condemn this terrifying treatment directed at women. We demand the responsibles to resign and never be in political scenes again. We want them to be judged for their discrimination, which is defined as crime in Turkish Criminal Law.”