Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has hit a bit of a rough patch lately, perhaps reflecting the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) difficulties. His latest awkward encounter with the public came in an Oct. 22 speech in which he offered the government's services as a marriage broker.
"You have a job, a salary and a home. Now it's time for a spouse. We want people of this land to be bountiful. We want you to procreate. First, seek the help of your parents to find a spouse. God willing, this will work out. If it does not, apply to us. We will find you a blessed spouse."
As expected, Davutoglu’s extravagant promise generated an uproar in the print and social media. There were hundreds of comments on Twitter; here are a few humorous ones:
- “Dear Prime Minister, I want a wife. She should be 5 feet 9 inches. Blonde. Pale skin. Blue eyes. Clean and with good manners. She also has to wash my feet.”
- In a request to Selahattin Demirtas, co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party, one person asked, "Will you also find us a spouse, chairman? Because I don’t trust Davutoglu, you never know what you will get from him.”
- “After coal and rice, now Davutoglu is distributing wives! I want one too!”
- “Those who said, ‘Don’t stay in coed housing’ last year are now saying, 'We will find you a spouse.' I believe Davutoglu is signaling an approval for gay marriage.”
And, of course, there were quite a few op-eds mocking Davutoglu’s marriage promise and dozens of satirical caricatures about his esoteric promise. At the time of this writing, there were already 24 pages of commentary on the famous Eksisozluk (an unofficial, collaborative online dictionary for entertainment purposes). Some of the cartoons portrayed Davutoglu as a pimp or as a host on a matchmaking show.
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