Dutch Maaike left Turkey – with her children, but without her husband

Dutch woman Maaike Dekkers (32) is married to Veli, a Turkish man. They have two sons, Semih (3) and Kaya (2). Until recently they lived together in Turkey, but last June Maaike returned to the Netherlands. With her children, but without her husband.

‘Veli knew what I gave up in the Netherlands, and why I had such a difficult time in …

Headscarf conquers Turkish parliament

The Turkish parliament has up to now been a forbidden area for women wearing a headscarf. And in the labour market women who cover their hair are discriminated against. Aynur Bayram tries to change that by standing as an independent candidate in the upcoming general elections.

A hundred thousand votes. That’s how many votes Aynur Bayram (30) has to collect in

…

Woman with scarf won’t make it to parliament

ISTANBUL – Turkey’s governing party AKP put a woman with a headscarf on the list of candidates for the upcoming general elections. However the woman is a candidate in Antalya, where she stands no chance of being elected. This way the AKP avoids a fuss in parliament: the headscarf is unwelcome in the Turkish parliament because it would erode the …

Happiness – 4 women share their story

Are you happy? Where ever in the world you ask that question, you can always identify with the answers. Journalist Frederike asked women in the Turkish city of Bursa. What defines their happiness?

‘Green Bursa’ is how Turkey’s fourth biggest city, Bursa, about a hundred kilometres south of Istanbul, is often referred to. And indeed, there is …

Dutch Zeynep Killi (53) sues Turkish generals

Thirty years ago, after the military coup in Turkey, Dutch-Turkish Zeynep Killi (53) was locked up in the infamous Diyarbakir jail. Because of a change in the constitution the coup plotters can now be prosecuted. Killi took her chance and travelled to Diyarbakir.

ISTANBUL – Whispering among each other the inmates talked about who, if they ever got the opportunity, would …

Headscarves allowed again at Turkish universities

ISTANBUL – Women wearing a headscarf on Monday regained the right to enter universities in Turkey. It had been forbidden for more than ten years after a decision by the Constitutional Court. The new situation is the result of a decision of the Board for Higher Education (YÖK), according to reports in several Turkish media outlets on Tuesday.

The YÖK has …

Headscarf discussion in Dutch TV-show, with yours truly

Today, Thursday 13th of May, I was one of the three correspondents in a Dutch TV-show that discussed the position of the head scarf in their countries. Besides me, Maarten Veeger, Dutch correspondent in Italy, was in the programme, and Stefan de Vries, Dutch correspondent in France.

You can watch the show here, but sorry, …

Baby in Turkey killed for ‘honour’

ISTANBUL – In the far west of Turkey a 2 day old baby has been killed to save the ‘honour’ of the family. The mother was not married to the father of the child, and this brought shame upon the family. Several Turkish papers report this story on Saturday.

The 25 year old mother got pregnant by her boyfriend before he …

The euphoria of a new language

Lots of young people enrol in courses at all sorts of language schools to learn a new language. From business English to Japanese, from Spanish to Turkish and Arabic. Freelance journalist Fréderike Geerdink, herself studying Turkish in Istanbul, explores the backgrounds of this language passion.

Evelien still feels the euphoria when she thinks back: in a supermarket in Utrecht …

Many abortions due to wrong vaccinations in Turkey

ISTANBUL –As part of a Turkish government campaign, a number of pregnant women were accidentally vaccinated against rubella. The vaccination can cause serious deformations to the unborn child, which led sixty women to have an abortion, according to today’s daily newspaper Hürriyet and local paper Ege’de Son Söz.

It is also possible that pregnant women were vaccinated by mistake in 32 …