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No laughing matter: Social media mocks AKP’s fight for chastity

The Justice and Development Party's (AKP) selective conservatism, aiming at regulating Turkish women’s public space, is loudly disapproved by a minority while the majority doesn’t react.

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Female Twitter users in Turkey posted photos of themselves laughing after a July 28 comment by Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc stated that women "should not laugh out loud in public." — Twitter/@arzubutuner

On July 28, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc attended an Eid-al-Fitr celebration in Bursa. Arinc had a lot to say on moral collapse in Turkey to a mostly male audience. The most striking part of his speech was about “regression in morality and chastity of women.”

Arinc said, “Men should not be playing around, should not be womanizers. Women should be humble and protect their chasteness. They should not laugh out loud in public. Women should not be enticing in their attitude.”

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