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| Turkey: Virginity
Examinations???
UPDATE - 10 August 2001: Cancel the code of
conduct which permits virginity examinations. On 19 July 2001, the Minister of Health of
Turkey initiated proceedings to bypass the ban on virginity examinations
(Ministry of Justice, decree no: 27/123) brought into action two years ago
after many years of protest by women and women's groups in Turkey. Our friends at Women for Women's Human
Rights/Kadinin Insan Halklari Projesi have informed us that following
criticisms from women's human right organizations and his own political
party, the Minister of Health, Osman Durmus has now stepped back from his
initial comments and has recently declared that he himself is against
virginity tests and that the doctors should comply with the ban issued by
the Ministry of justice in 1999. HOWEVER, he has NOT withdrawn the code of
conduct he issued and the action must now be directed to pressure him to
cancel the code of conduct. There is another statute named the
"Statute of for awards and discipline in the High School Education
Institutions" issued by the Ministry of Education and which came into
effect as of 31 January 1995. This statute states that 'proof of
unchastity" is a valid reason for expulsion from the formal
educational system. Despite the ban issued by the Ministry of Justice,
this statute remains to be in effect. Recently, following protests, the
Ministry of Education contacted the Directorate on Women's Status, asking
for their opinion on the statute. Therefore, please include the Ministry
of Education in your alert. WHAT YOU CAN DO Add to the protest against the
reintroduction of virginity tests and send this letter to the government
representatives listed below: Bulent Ecevit, The Prime Minister Fax:
+90 312 417 04 76 We are appalled by the latest act of the
Minister of Health of Turkey, which aims to bypass the ban on virginity
exams (Ministry of Justice, decree no: 27/123) brought into action two
years ago after many years of protest by women and women's groups in
Turkey. We know that the attempts to control women's virginity until today
have caused the despair and the death of many young women in the country. The control of virginity is one of the most
patriarchal tools of control of women's bodies and lives. The aim of
education should be to eradicate such practices that violate women's human
rights AND NOT to reinforce them. THE TURKISH GOVERNMENT HAS
NO RIGHT to interfere in young women's control of their own bodies. The order decreed clearly violates the
articles 10, 12, 20 and 42 of the Turkish Constitution, and international
conventions that Turkey has signed, such as, Articles 2 and 12 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Articles 8 and 14 of the European
Convention on Human Rights, Articles 7, 17 and 26 of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and CEDAW. We will take every action to support women
of Turkey in their struggle to protect their human rights, which they have
obtained through utmost struggles throughout the decades. We demand that this order be cancelled
immediately and the related code of conduct withdrawn, and urge the
Turkish government to eradicate all such practices as they have promised
in several international conventions! BACKGROUND More background details are included in the
following article from the Associated Press. Turkish Virginity Tests Outrage Some 18 July 2001: ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) —
Turkey's health minister says high school girls training to be nurses must
be virgins and the virginity tests he is authorizing will protect the
nation's youth from prostitution and underage sex. Outraged women's groups
and nurses are vowing to fight, and a teachers' union is asking the
government to fire the minister. The regulations introduced this week by
Health Minister Osman Durmus allow principals in state schools that train
nurses, midwives and other health workers to expel girls for "having
had sex or engaging in prostitution.'' Girls who are suspected of having
sex could be subjected to a gynecological test to determine if they are
virgins. Virginity is highly valued in mainly Muslim
Turkey. Forced virginity tests on girls suspected of having had premarital
sex were common until the practice was banned in 1999 after five girls
took rat poison rather than submit to the test. Durmus said he was trying promote moral
behavior in the nursing schools. "Should our schools become places
for prostitution?'' he was quoted as saying by Akit newspaper. In a tense
meeting Tuesday, Buyan Dogan, the head of the Association of Turkish
nurses, pleaded with Durmus to reconsider. The minister interrupted her
frequently, at times accusing the nurses of defending underage sex.
"We will fight this to the end,'' an angry Dogan said before leaving
Durmus' office. The controversy, which is also being
debated in the country's newspapers, reflects deep divisions between the
large part of Turkey that is deeply religious and the Western-oriented
elite who regard themselves as European. The Islamic-oriented newspaper
Akit devoted its front page to Durmus' attacks on the nurses who oppose
virginity tests. "A lesson for the immoral evil person,'' the
newspaper said in its headline, referring to Dogan. It accused her of
defending prostitution and sexual relationships. The liberal press, meanwhile, ridiculed
Durmus in sarcastic headlines. Columnist Can Dundar of the Milliyet
newspaper asked how Durmus was going to check the virginity of male
nursing students. The Turkish Union of Science and Culture Workers, which
represents teachers, called for the minister's dismissal. "Durmus
should work to solve the country's health problems — he should not
concern himself with issues concerning the waist down,'' said Alaadin
Dincer, head of the union. In Turkey, girls who attend nursing high
schools are generally from poor, traditional backgrounds. The conservative
countryside is a traditional power base for Durmus' far-right Nationalist
Action Party. The 1999 ban on virginity tests allows them only for
gathering evidence for court cases, such as rape trials. It requires a
court order before women can be forced to take the test. Durmus said nursing students suspecting of
having sex would not be subjected to virginity tests without a court
order. Before the ban, school principals could force the test on girls
suspected of engaging in premarital sex. The change came after five
teen-age girls from an orphanage attempted suicide by taking rat poison
and throwing themselves in a water tank rather than submitting to the test
after returning late to their orphanage. The girls were later forced to
take the test in their hospital beds. Concern over virginity sometimes even
extends to visitors to Turkey: In more conservative parts of the country,
unmarried foreign tourists have been dragged out of their hotel rooms for
staying with male companions. Source: Women Living Under Muslim Laws |