A decision by TurkeyÂ’s largest city to ban some pictures of swimsuit models has revived claims about the rising power of Islam, with newspapers saying the move was more befitting of theocratic Iran than a secular democracy. Istanbul municipality asked stores selling swimwear made by Turkish manufacturer Nelson to seek permission to place photographs of models in swimsuits and bikinis on store front windows located on main streets. It then denied them permission.
The controversy follows several large secularist protests in Turkey, a secular republic with an overwhelmingly Muslim population, against the ruling AK Party, which controls the Istanbul city authority and which has Islamist roots. Secularists say AK wants to undermine TurkeyÂ’s separation of state and religion and to boost the role of Islam in daily life, claims which the centre-right, pro-business party denies.
“Is this becoming a land of mullahs like Iran?” asked the Vatan daily, commenting on the row over the swimwear pictures.
The staunchly secular Cumhuriyet daily quoted local consultant Ali Saydam as saying: “The AK party is creating worries that they are turning Turkey into Iran.”
| And they're trying to do it slowly enough that the West doesn't notice. |
The municipality’s urban planning department said it denied permission because the application was not in the proper form. “We have no law that forbids the photographs of these companies,” Ahmet Faruk Yanardag, municipality spokesperson said.
