İsmailağa community denies calling on women to cover up at beaches

SAKARYA – Doğan News Agency

DHA Photo

One of Turkey’s most prominent religious communities, known as the İsmailağa, announced on June 27 that it had no ties with the men who advised women to cover up at a public beach in the province of Sakarya.

“The men who distributed brochures to people at the beach in Karasu, calling on women to cover up, are not members of the İsmailağa foundation,” said the İsmailağa community on its website on June 26.

On the sandy beaches of Kaynarca, located in the Karasu district of Sakarya, two men wearing thobes and kufis had caused a stir last weekend after distributing brochures to beach-goers, offering advice on the correct Islamic deportment.

The two men, who were accompanied by a child, said they were members of an Islamic foundation from the ultra-conservative neighborhood of Çarşamba, in Istanbul’s Fatih district.

The brochure, titled “The lady that God wants” contained a total of 72 instructions, including the following: “The lady should be covered; she should not shake hands with male strangers; she should not go outside without asking for permission from her husband; she should not go to weddings where there is music; and she should not sit in public areas.”