Speaker of Turkey’s Grand National Assembly (TBMM) from the ruling Justice and Development Part (AKP), İsmail Kahraman declared on May 25 that female and male lawmakers will separately attend the dinner ceremonies of parliament during the Islamic Ramadan month.
Having ignited debates in Turkey with his previous remarks, “Secularism should not take place in the new Constitution”, İsmail Kahraman will organise two different ‘iftar’ dinners, the evening meal when Muslims end their daily Ramadan fast, on July 7 and July 14. According to Saymaz’s organisation invitation, while only male lawmakers will attend a dinner ceremony, only female lawmakers will attend the other one.
Turkish parliament speaker’s implementation echoes the Ottoman era during which the imperial palaces were divided into portions as the household of males (‘selamlık’) and the household of females (‘harem’).
Meanwhile, an Islamic masjid within the parliament will be opened during the Ramadan with sections for men and women.
Being famous for his anti-secular and Islamist discourse, İsmail Kahraman officially turned the name of Turkish Assembly locality into ‘külliye’ in reference to the Islamist-Ottoman social complexes in the past and published some calendars with Arabic prayers from Quran.
