Bike enthusiast teaches cycling to 72 women 

MARDİN

A mother of three with ambitious cycling goals has taught some 72 local women how to ride a bicycle in five months in the southeastern province of Mardin’s Derik district, a place where adult women cycling is not considered “inappropriate.”

“I moved to Derik, my hometown, from [southeastern province of] Diyarbakır amid the pandemic and established the local cycling club,” Sevdet Baki, 37, told the Demirören News Agency on Oct. 13. 

“I posted a message saying, ‘I want to teach cycling to women,’ on social media. The next morning, I had 38 women asking me to teach them,” she added. 

During her initial days, she gave the cycling lessons with just her bike. Then inhabitants donated two more bicycles. “Thanks to the high demand, the district governor promised to present us more,” she noted. 

“She taught 72 women, like me, how to ride a bike,” Gülşah Dinler, a 49-year-old mother of two, said, thanking Baki for her devotion.

“It was my childhood dream to ride a bike. But, as you might know, locals are not usually fond of the idea of women indulging in such activities. Thanks to her, I can now happily ride a bike,” said Evindar Yapıştıran, a “bike trainee” and a mother of three.

Baki, who will teach 50 more women in the near future, has “a bigger target.”

“I want to ride bicycles with all my female students while passing in front of the Derik local bazaar,” she added.