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Turkey: Beat your woman to show her you care (and die young so you can look nice as a stiff)
Unbelievable...Turkey's most adored belly dancer has appealed to the authorities for protection after threats from her former lover, the country's best-known balladeer. Onur Cakmak, whose stage name is Asena ("She Wolf") filed a lawsuit against Ibrahim Tatlises in Istanbul saying she feared for her life. "I will take the matter to the prime minister if have to," she said. Tatlises said their relationship could end only "if I want it to", that he could track down Asena "in 12 hours to take what action is necessary", and that "she is my honour". That word has chilling resonance in a country where scores of women die every year in so-called honour killings for disgracing their families through liaisons with men. "This man [Tatlises] is synonymous with violence and crime," said Ayse Kismet, a woman activist, referring to the Kurdish singer's reputation for beating wives and lovers and his repeated detentions in connection with alleged possession of arms and drugs. "Tatlises is the prototypical Turkish man," said Hidayet Tuksal, another feminist. "Sadly we live in a society where machismo is revered and beating your wife is seen by men and women alike as a sign that he cares." But as Turkey increases efforts to join the European Union, the nation's patriarchal laws and mentality are beginning to change. Legislation scrapping reduced sentences for honour crimes was approved by the Turkish parliament last month among other improvements to women's rights. Tatlises is Turkey's best-known performer of Arabesque, mawkish ballads that draw heavily on Arabic popular music. Lyrics typically extol the virtues of dying young "so that your corpse may be handsome" and are punctuated by drawn out wailing noises. Extending to the Arab world and former Soviet Central Asia, Tatlises's immense popularity enabled him to build a multi-million pound empire, that includes a chain of pizza parlours and a bus company. Last year Asena was shot in the leg by a youth who said he was acting "to avenge" an undisclosed "wrong" against Tatlises. In February Asena said she was breaking the relationship off for good. It was the first time that Tatlises had been publicly dumped by a woman. "Even if I should die of hunger" Asena said this week, "I will never work or come together with Tatlises ever again." Posted by: Bulldog 2004-11-04 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=47794 |