Veiled democracy

In a “normal” democracy, it ought not to be the business of the prime minister to delve into the bedroom affairs of citizens, who indeed pay for and buy his services. There are people against abortion, as well as people who say personal choice must be respected. A prime minister turning into an anti-abortion activist, however, must be rather rare.

Abortion, particularly, has always been a difficult issue for all societies. All three monotheistic religions are against abortion but it is applied throughout the world, including a handful of countries where abortion is officially prohibited but applied at primitive clinics under appalling conditions at the risk of the woman’s life. Of course every country has its own regulation regarding application; some are more rigid, some are more liberal. For example, in some countries, it is applied to terminate pregnancies of rape victims while in many countries it is just a “personal choice” of the woman; in many countries, the consent of a man is also required. Regardless, there has been no law anywhere on the globe requiring women to first obtain the consent of a prime minister obsessed with the perineum of people. But, perhaps, that is a requirement of being an “advanced democracy” like Turkey. Or should I indeed say “veiled democracy?”

The worshipful master delved into bedroom affairs with his famous “I want three kids” order to couples. He then upped his order to five kids, but he is still stressing that “to foil the plot” of the decreasing size of Turkish families, every couple must deliver at least three kids. Is this a psychiatric condition? Why is he so much obsessed with Turkish couples having three kids each?

Research by the Economist has shown that couples have three or more kids in developing countries, while couples in developed nations with declining and ageing populations have two or fewer kids. However, according to the weekly magazine, 2.1 kids per couple is the “golden ratio” to maintain population size, while three or more kids are necessary to increase society. That is indeed a dilemma for a country like Turkey. A high population growth rate, increasing longevity and an overwhelmingly young population all require the government to generate tens of thousands of fresh jobs every year, increased health bill and such… Yet, the government is against birth control, the notion of conservation and the use of contraceptives, condemning them as part of a plot to decrease the Turkish population. Can that be a sound mentality?

Anyhow, I firmly believe that the cunning prime minister spelled out his rather wicked ideas on abortion and the increasing application of elective caesarean section in maternity wards with the aim and full intention of stirring up some hot discussion in society and thus distracting attention from something else. Why now? Why did he not instruct the Religious Affairs Directorate to be more vigorous against abortion and the habit of some doctors to perform caesarean sections instead of assuming the role of chief imam to talk about morality and condemn abortion as “prenatal murder”?

While the entire country continues taking on this “hot” subject, the chief executive will probably give the “go-ahead” on his real agenda issue. Will that be a new Kurdish adventure, pardon, opening? Well, when we wake up, we will “discover” the issue veiled by the abortion debate.