The big cover up

[KKOB]

Reductio ad absurdum - "The more sleep you get the healthier you will be" - a generalisation.

Muchos b*****kos !

[johntaylor49]

Reductio ad absurdum - "The more sleep you get the healthier you will be" - a generalisation.

Muchos b*****kos !

Aiwa Habibi (and Habibti ladies)

Outside Bin Liner

[kayakebab]

We flew to Sarajevo from Istanbul a few weeks ago and were in the minority at the boarding gate.
I was glad I had worn trousers as I would have felt uncomfortable in shorts as it was mostly women in full hijab.
On the plane one of these ladies sat next to me and spoke quietly to me, I turned my head and couldn't see a face at all, and thought she was sideways onto me and talking to someone else. She spoke again, and I realised she had a black veil across the whole of her face.
It was quite disconcerting.
She wanted to change places with me and John and be by the window because a man , who just happened to be like an Arabic Sheik, had sat across the aisle.
I must admit I was a bit put out, and maybe that is rascist or whatever, but I was really unnerved by not seeing a face and also a part of me felt that you cannot expect not to be in close proximity to men on a plane.
I also have a bit of an issue with women's rights oppression / suppression and whether it's their choice etc, but that's another debate I guess.
Anyway, she changed seats, not sure what difference it made as there was a man in the seat in front of her which really was closer than across the aisle.

Sarajevo is 80% Muslim, and many totally covered women, usually 2 or 3 with one man, but I didn't get the feeling they were Bosnian, I think they must have travelled there after seeing so many boarding at Istanbul.

We travelled further to Croatia, a few hours drive, and a small border crossing across a normal main road, no mosques, extremely Christian/ Catholic, only saw one lady wearing a scarf. The contrast in a relatively small area was strange.
We also noticed there were no street animals in Croatia, not one in 2 weeks travelling around, lots on leads with their owners, although we saw many tagged dogs in Sarajevo and Mostar.

On our return to Sarajevo airport there were loads of fully covered women again.

We were surprised at Passport Control in Istanbul that they were queuing at the Turkish Citizen desks, as just assumed they were from elsewhere, that may make me sound ignorant, but I have travelled through Istanbul many times before and never seen this many.

My dad commented this year that he thought there were a lot more ladies wearing scarves in Fethiye.
And in Bim the other day both the ladies on the tills were wearing scarves, which we've not seen before.

We've also noticed so many cars here that aren't 48 plates so wondering if more and more people are moving to Fethiye from more religious parts of a Turkey?
Pretty sure they're not all just on holiday.

So, anyway, having gone off on a tangent, there is a definite increase in the number of covered women, is this the result of the AK party Islamification policies? My guess would be that it is.

[Jacqui Harvey]

I think I would be wondering how woman who were fully covered including their faces could get through Customs without showing their faces.   This, would be a big security risk.

[kayakebab]

They have to lift their veil Jacqui, we watched as we were intrigued...

[Jacqui Harvey]

Glad to hear that, so, they show their faces to a man    

[JohnF]

So, anyway, having gone off on a tangent, there is a definite increase in the number of covered women, is this the result of the AK party Islamification policies? My guess would be that it is.

Your guess would be right, there has been an increase over the past few years.  It was probably more noticeable to you in Istanbul than Fethiye simply due to the scale of numbers.

Our house in Istanbul was in Balat which is part of Fatih belediye, one of the more fundamental districts - as a result, seeing women burka'd up was nothing out of the ordinary.  Several families in our street had (fully) covered women, and I'm talking about from when we bought there, 2003/4 thereabouts. 

There was always a noticeable difference between areas like Balat, Fener and Fatih in general when you went to areas like Sultanahmet or Taksim as the number of covered women decreased dramatically.   However, from about 2009/10 we all noticed an increase in the number of fully covered women all over and, in places like the belediye offices and banks, the number of women who were choosing to wear scarves. 

Unlike the OP, its not something that bothered us - I mean, it's a muslim country with an Islamic ruling party so it's their choice.  So far, none of our Turkish friends have chosen to go down this route, and woe betide any of their partners who would think of suggesting it!

JF

[Jacqui Harvey]

If I ever say Turkey is a Muslim country, I am soon told off and given a lecture that it is not a Muslim Country.

[Scunner]

It's Arab country they tend to pull you up on I have found. The percentage of Muslims in the population would make it difficult to deny it is a Muslim country     

[Hamlet]

In British Airports I understand that security checks on veiled women are carried out by women officers as a matter of respect for the women concerned.