Two women-only pink trambuses brought into service in Turkey’s Malatya

MALATYA

Two “pink” trambuses, designed for use only by women, were brought into service on Sept. 18 in the central Anatolian province of Malatya.

The new provincial transportation implementation stirred debate among the locals of Malatya as well as across Turkey over “gender apartheid.”

On the first day of the implementation installed by Malatya Municipality’s Transportation Service (MOTAŞ), men who were not aware of the new implementation were shocked when they learned they could not board these buses. Some women greeted the new implementation by expressing their satisfaction, as other women expressed that they felt the latest implementation was discriminatory.

“Women will be at ease. Hereafter, we can travel easily,” one of the female passengers said.

Another female passenger said the implementation was good but deficient.

“It seems like discrimination. Okay, we can travel easily on pink trambuses, but what will happen when we use the other trambuses? It seems like a good implementation but it is deficient,” she said.

The MOTAŞ general directorate released a statement, saying two trambuses would run eight times a day and the request for trambuses specialized for women came from a female student who was registered at the İnönü University in Malatya. Drivers of these trambuses were also women.

Meanwhile, another criticism was voiced by main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy Veli Aybaba.

He said this implementation was “literally” discrimination.

“What will happen if a female university student does not catch the pink trambus? This is ‘literally’ discrimination. If you have trouble with harassment against women, make a purple bus for the perverts who harass them. How will they approach women who do not get on the pink trambus? These trambuses are an attempt to segregate women from social society. Women who live in Malatya do not deserve this,” he said.