The pro-Justice and Development Party (AKP) daily Turkiye published on Aug. 13 a controversial column titled “Figen Yuksekdag and Women of Cancerous Souls.” Figen Yuksekdag is the female co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). Targeting the image and reputation of Yuksekdag, the piece reinforces strong prejudices against left-wing women among the Turkish political right, particularly Islamists. It states that leftist women lose their femininity, dress tastelessly and try to act like men to be considered equal — hence their incessant rough, violence-advocating rhetoric. Trying to identify the source of this male anger, the column argues that these women suffer from ugly duckling syndrome and suppress their libido. Then the piece takes a rather insulting turn against Yuksekdag's personality and claims she is advocating violence because she has not been with a man. Twisting Yuksekdag’s own words about her personal life choices from a candid interview, the offensive column declares all leftist women are “bigoted, irrational and despotic.”

This is only the latest example of pro-AKP media attacks on female socialists; it is not an exception. Indeed, the AKP’s Ankara mayor, Melih Gokcek, is notorious for his constant verbal clashes with left-wing female parliamentarians. Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc recently told a parliamentarian from the HDP to “shut up as a woman” on live television. Similarly, several times women parliamentarians from left-wing parties have become victims of physical attacks from right-wing male deputies during parliamentary sessions.

The piece — quite harsh in its language and personally offensive to Yuksekdag and women in general — generated an uproar mostly from left-wing social media users. A few left-wing women also penned articles published in non-mainstream media outlets. They questioned why the right fears women and how women-hating men act in social and political settings. So far, not a single columnist or pundit from the conservative or Islamist media outlets has criticized the piece. It is particularly telling that right-wing women have kept quiet about such horrendous and personal insults against a senior female politician, particularly in a country where female politicians are a relatively rare sight, barely reaching 14% in the 2015 general election.

Yuksekdag’s lawyers promptly filed a court complaint about the piece. That said, the arguments of the piece, aside from the personal insults targeting Yuksekdag, are a summary of the prejudices and generalizations the Turkish right holds against women of the left. Why do conservative, particularly Islamist, men despise leftist women? And why is this dislike becoming more vocal now?