SIGNS OF THE EMANCIPATION OF THE TURKISH WOMEN IN APPEARANCE

The Turks took modernization very seriously. Kemal Pasha exterminated the old romantic Turkish customs in all areas by all means, but especially in the matter of clothing. I think it is important to note, that Ataturk did not forbid wearing a headscarf. He just didn’t recommend wearing it in the public areas. Turkish society was extremely divided by the series of regulations and recommendations on the appearance of the women. Conservative Turks protested against “immoral European attire” and “undressing of Muslim women”. For a long time, there was not as much excitement in the city as when the Constantinople police issued a revolutionary decree, repealing all measures that regulated women's clothing and stated, that everyone could dress as they pleased. Many were greeted with excitement, but many with resignation and even indignation. The former included mainly women, the latter among husbands. It should be noted that Constantinople was essentially a conservative city, whose Turkish population largely condemned the policies of the Ankara government and dreamed of restoring the old power and light of the caliphate. Through the tremendous tourism the European influence took the traditional headscarf off the faces of the Mohammedan women, yet lots of Turkish people found this wear immoral and shameless. Sometimes a poster appeared on the streets convening a “League for the Protection of Integrity and Morality” assembly to protest against the “undressing of Turkish women”.⁴³ Later conservatives also accepted that women took off their veils and change their hairstyles from long to etons, but they could not bear that schoolgirls put on their makeup every

42 Az új Törökország legmodernebb lányának érdekes karrierje. Esti Újság, February 1, 1938. p. 2.

43 A ”erkölcstelen európai viseletet” megengedték a török nőknek. Esti Kurir, August 14, 1925. p.3.

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day. There was so much protest among parents that finally a decree was issued strictly banning student girls from using lipstick and foundation powder in schools.⁴⁴

“Only two toilets a year became the name of an association founded in Constantinople by wealthy ladies, committing themselves to making only two outfits a year. The emancipated Turkish women after taking off their veils overwhelmed in fashionable clothes and presented never seen luxury. The association was formed against this exaggeration. Each member of the association committed herself with a patriotic word of honor to make no more than two toilets a year. Every member of our association, the president explained, wears a badge with glittering letters written on it:

Only two toilets. From this the people will see that the reason we are not elegant is not because we do not have money for toilets, but because we give up luxurious lifestyle for the sake of morality. According to one paragraph of the association’s charters a member who makes more than two toilets for herself is immediately removed from the association. Unfortunately the president complained, this paragraph has to be applied quite often. Our ladies have no perseverance or if you like, no heart to keep the rules.

There were members, who made several toilets out of the same fabric wanted to circumvent the rules. We acted mercilessly against them as well.⁴⁵

The two toilet movements also applied to the bride's cloak. The correspondent of the Quotidien in Constantinople reported on a draft drawn up by the austerity committee against “overextended luxury” for the invitation of the Turkish interior minister. The regulation dealed with wedding and christening events in particularly detailed, which were very strictly regulated. According to the draft, the bride and groom could not give each other any gifts, other than wedding rings, the value of which could not exceed twenty Turkish pounds. All other wedding gifts were strictly prohibited. In addition to the most necessary lingerie, there could be no more, than two outfits for the bride.

Furniture: for two rooms, it could be made of completely simple wood. The wedding feast was officially canceled. Those invited to the wedding were only allowed to be offered candy and cooling drinks. In the wedding procession could have had maximum

44 Tilos a rúzs és a púder a török leányiskolákban. Az Est, March 29, 1930. p.11.

45 Csak két toalettet egy esztendőben. Az Est, July 4, 1928. p.3.

five horse-drawn carriage, rich floral arrangements or similar pomp were strictly forbidden. It was also not allowed to hold a banquet or other ceremony on the occasion of baptism.⁴⁶

Among the anti-ostentation regulations we can find more interesting rules. The Turkish government has ordered, that typists employed in public offices and large corporate offices should wear uniforms made of dark-colored fabric and strictly tailored in the future. According to the explanatory memorandum of the decree Turkish typists wore flirtatious clothes that seriously disturbed men at work.⁴⁷

Of course Turkish citizens could not get rid of its centuries-old traditions so easily, and travel reports about Turkey consistently reported about those men on the Turkish streets who wore European soft or hard hats sitting strangely, half-naked on their head. And the reason for this was that hidden, under their hats yet they only wore fez very carefully, of course not to be noticed by police officers, because they were ruthlessly arrested and punished. But women could not, at least not without exception, adapt so suddenly the new fashion. The veil was taken off, but many wore buns, braids, and long hair. Wearing a skirt and its length also caused great confusion among the population, as the Turkish woman was brought up not to show any part of her body to a male eye. As a remnant of old clothes, at least the skirt was lengthened to completely cover their legs.

“Since the sultanate and the caliphate were abolished in Turkey and the republic gave women emancipation, strictly veiled women have barely been seen on the streets of Constantinople. The veil is worn only as a headscarf but then without exception. Even ladies married here from Europe.”⁴⁸

The newspaper Esti Kurir issued the statement of Pasha Kiazim, Speaker of the Turkish National Assembly (also the official position of the government) who strongly protested against the old costumes and demanded that women wear short hair and short skirts without exception. Short hair is perfection itself. After the men have already done

46 Csak két ruhából állhat a török menyasszony kelengyéje. Ellenzék, 46, No.48. p.5.

47 Szigorú szabású formaruhát kaptak a török gépírókisasszonyok. Brassói Lapok, January 6, 1935.

p.3.

48 Soulavy,Antal, Konstantinápolyi Levelek. Élet, January, 1925. p.172.

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it: now it is the turn of the women to get rid of their long curls, and it is downright inadmissible for them to return to the old fashion. The same was true for the short skirt.

A civilized woman can no longer walk in an ankle-length skirt. As can be seen from the statement, Pasha Kiazim insisted quite radically that good morals are not protected by moral policing and good moral is not the question of long hair or long skirts because not that makes people moral.⁴⁹

Atatürk wanted to visualises warrior Amazons⁵⁰ instead of a Mohammedan woman isolated from the world. To this end, military service for women was also introduced in 1936 on the Soviet model. ⁵¹ Turkish girls got regular military training and spend their summer holidays in military camps. A proposal raised the upper age limit for conscription from 45 to 65 years.⁵² In my opinion, at the center of Turkish female emancipation stood political aspirations of Kemal Pasha and its execution were underpinned by several Bolshevik⁵³ methods: female emancipation can be truly successful, if it is carried out with tough state intervention, as strength must be shown for breaking patriarchal traditions.⁵⁴ “Of course anxious parents are very frustrated by this militant mood of young girls, but they can't do anything about it because the Secretary of Defense allowed the girls to receive regular military training in schools and even prepare them for gas and air warfare.” writes the journalist of the newspaper Új Nemzedék.⁵⁵

Daily news also reported on the first female strike (November 5, 1929), which affected 2,000 female carpenters near Castamoni along the Black Sea. Women demanded the same pay as male workers. This was the first time, that female workers went on strike in Turkey.⁵⁶

49A török nemzetgyűlés elnöke a rövid haj és rövid szoknya mellett. Esti Kurir, August 18, 1928. p.6.

50 Törökországban bevezetik a nők hadkötelezettségét. Brassói Lapok, November 8, 1936. p.2.

51 Törökországban is besorozzák a nőket. Magyar Lapok, November 8, 1936. p.7.

52 Törökországban a nők is hadkötelesek. Makói Újság, 1937. September 25. p.4.

53 Ghodsee, Kristen R.,Why Woman Had Better Sex Under Socialism. New York Times, August 12, 2017. p.23.

54 Egy török leány végigküzdötte a szmirnai harcokat, Az Est, Friday, July 20, 1923. p.2.

55 Harcias török nők, Új Nemzedék. 1935. február 22. p.4.

56 Kétezer nőmunkás sztrájkja Törökországban, Népszava, November 5, 1929. p.4.

There was also a change in the women’s occupations.⁵⁷ Kemal Pasha signed a decree appointing the first two Turkish women judges. Both were assigned to the metropolitan court in councils that adjudicated women. ⁵⁸ The first female judge in Turkey was Suat Berk (1901-2002), who began her career at the age of 21 when she became a judge, saying: “I thought people were coming to court to take care of their cases, but it turned out that they actually came to see the female judge.” These thoughts also reflect the fact, that it was a completely unique and unprecedented, shocking phenomenon in Turkey at this time for a woman to hold the office of a judge.⁵⁹

“Most of the girls go to study law, but many are interested in commercial carrier.

You’ll be surprised when I tell you how many girls study as pilots. Surely the most beautiful thing is to be a pilot. The new Turkey already has two hundred certified pilots.

They are all young girls around the age of twenty, university students, or college graduates. We already have three military pilot women” - told Perihan Sander, a Turkish lawyer interviewed by the newspaper Új Nemzedék New Generation, with bright eyes. ⁶⁰

But when the first female taxi driver also appeared, it was so prominent, that it was also mentioned in the Hungarian press. “Equality for women culminated when Miss (…) received a taxi driver’s license from Istanbul City Council. The first Turkish taxi driver is 18, very pretty and speaks French and English in addition to her mother tongue.” wrote newspaper Az Est. When she started, she gave an interview and expressed the hope, that the service users would prefer to sit in her taxi, than in men’s, because male taxi drivers in Constantinople are usually rude and often drunk. ”⁶¹

For the first time in Turkish history, on March 1, 1928, a statue of a Turkish woman was erected in a public square. A statue of Pasha Mustafa Kemal, created by an

57 Női bírák Törökországban, Esti Kurir, November 10, 1930.

58 Női bírák Törökországban, Az Est, April 30, 1930. p.10.

59 Priege, Adrienn Dóra, Az európai integráció hatása a török igazságszolgáltatásra. PhD Doktori Értekezés. 2018, pp. 17-21. http://corvina.kre.hu:8080/phd/Prieger_disszertacio-10.24395_KRE.2018.004.pdf ( Download: 01.12.2020.).

60 Mi tetszett legjobban a török egyetemi hallgatóknak Budapesten? Új Nemzedék, 1938. január 27.

p.3.

61 Az első török taxisofőr, Az Est, January, 19, 1930. p.8.

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Austrian sculptor Krippel was unveiled in Angora's main square. The main figure of the statue was Pasha Mustafa Kemal. Next to him an Anatolian peasant woman carrying bullets to one of the artillery cannon under Pasha Mustafa Kemal's personal command.⁶²