Did you know there are legitimate and illegitimate lifestyles? That is what Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a Finnish reporter in Helsinki on Nov. 6. After suggesting the reporter was on a special mission to offend him, Erdogan went on to say that during his 16 years in politics, he has “never intervened in personal lifestyle choices.” Erdogan added that whatever the laws say, that is his duty to enforce.

Considering that on his way to Helsinki, Erdogan had enlightened us all on how he instructed the governors to look into the morality of “coed habitation” in private flats by female and male students, we cannot help but question how the separation of powers is affected by the Justice and Development Party (AKP)'s self-coined “silent revolution.”

Although one may debate how "silent" the AKP’s revolution has been in the last decade, I would argue it aims to silence women into accepting a “legitimate” — halal — lifestyle. In this specific case, two issues require attention. First, there is an agency for “Student Credits and Dorms,” which operates under the Ministry of Youth and Sports and is responsible for building and monitoring student housing. Erdogan explained that the AKP has effectively reduced the “coed dorm” trouble by about 75% so far, and that it would not permit the sexes to mingle. The issue is not new. The US State Department's International Women of Courage Award 2012 recipient Safak Pavey, also a member of the Turkish parliament representing the main opposition party Republican People’s Party (CHP), told Al-Monitor she filed a parliamentary query in August 2012 seeking an explanation of why the coed dorms are being turned into single-sex residences. Other CHP members have also sought explanation of the issue without much progress.

 Most of the time, these “coed” dorms have separate buildings for women and men, but share facilities such as cafeterias. However, the AKP has decided this is not acceptable and is introducing “positive discrimination to benefit women” by turning the existing dorms — which tend to be either on campus or close to campus — into female-only residences and assigning men to different locations. Minister of Youth and Sports Suat Kilic, however, argues this is not an Islamic, but "human” separation and calls the practice positive discrimination for “girls.” Kilic’s lines are peculiar since his father-in-law, Ali Yuksel, is an advisor to Erdogan and is candid about his own polygamous lifestyle. According to Turkish law polygamy is not legal, but according to Islam, it is permissible. Erdogan has not uttered a word about polygamous lifestyles being "illegitimate" or "immoral." As one can see, there are significant gaps between existing family laws and regulations and the ones desired by the ruling party.