A heated argument at a municipal assembly may cost Ahmet Kurtuluş a seat in his own party. Acting chair of the assembly of Kadıköy municipality on Istanbul’s Asian side, faces disciplinary action from his main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), was detained by police and drew the ire of critics of his treatment toward a female assembly member.
In scenes eerily reminding a former prime minister calling for ejection of a female lawmaker from Parliament for wearing headscarf in 1999, Kurtuluş told the staff at a session of the assembly on Friday to “take this person out,” referring to Elif Lale Bilgili, the only assembly member from ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party). Bilgili was responding to allegations of CHP members at the assembly toward her party before remarks related to International Women’s Day. When Kurtuluş disrupted her speech and reminded her that she only had five minutes, Bilgili objected, citing that previous speakers were allocated 10 minutes and some were even allowed to speak however long they wanted. Kurtuluş warned her again before ordering a power cutoff to the microphone that Bilgili was using. When Bilgili insisted on continuing her speech, Kurtuluş said it was out of the question before telling staff to take Bilgili out shortly before the latter walked out on her own in reaction to his remarks.
The Chief Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation against Kurtuluş on charges of abuse of duty and prevention of freedom of expression and took him into custody over the weekend. He was released with judiciary control on Sunday. The CHP’s Istanbul branch chair Özgür Çelik said in a social media post that they launched disciplinary proceedings for Kurtuluş after his remarks against an AK Party assembly member.
The incident angered President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who referred to it as he addressed a women’s gathering on the occasion of International Women’s Day on Saturday. “You see how an assemblyman cut off our female colleague, insulted her and how this acting assembly chair dared to utter those words,” he said. “This arrogance, this fascist attitude, demonstrates that mindset of Feb. 28 prevails in the CHP. Apparently, it is a CHP tradition to ‘put women in their place,’” Erdoğan stated.
In 1999, Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit had vehemently opposed Merve Kavakçı, a headscarf-wearing lawmaker, to take oath at Parliament, in a well-publicized call to other members of Parliament “to put this woman in her place.” The episode was emblematic of the motives of those behind the Feb. 28, 1997 coup that disrupted the lives of headscarf-wearing women barred from the public sector and education. “This in the CHP’s genes,” Erdoğan said. Ecevit, founder of the Democratic Left Party (DSP) was a former chair of the CHP and a longtime stalwart of Türkiye’s oldest party. “The CHP is obviously misogynist; it is a political formation which cannot tolerate women speaking out their mind freely; it is a repressive, fascist political movement,” Erdoğan underlined.
