Istanbul (News agencies)
A decision by Turkey's largest city to ban pictures of swimsuit models has revived claims about the rising power of Islam, with newspapers saying the move was more befitting of Mullah-ruled Iran than a secular democracy.
Istanbul municipality asked stores selling swimwear made by Turkish manufacturer Nelson to seek permission to place photographs of models in swimsuits and bikinis on store front windows located on main streets. After which it denied them permission.
The controversy follows several large secularist protests in Turkey, a secular republic with an overwhelmingly Muslim population, against the ruling AK Party, which controls the Istanbul city authority and has Islamist roots.
"Is this becoming a land of mullahs like Iran?" asked the Vatan daily, commenting on the row over the swimwear pictures.
Echoing that comment, the staunchly secular Cumhuriyet daily quoted local consultant Ali Saydam as saying :"(The AK Party) is creating worries that they are turning Turkey into Iran."
According to Cumhuriyet newspaper the controversy showed the AK
Party was "secular only in name".
"Headscarf advertisements can easily find space in Istanbul advertising space" the paper said.
Secularists say AK wants to undermine Turkey's separation of state and religion and to boost the role of Islam in daily life, claims which the centre-right, pro-business party denies.
This year four firms were denied permission to hang photographs in store windows, according to newspaper reports.
Moris Eskinazi, part owner of Nelson, told Reuters the need to seek municipality permission was new. "We've never had to get permission before, and they wanted us to bring a copy of the photographs we planned on putting up," he said.
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EU STANDARDS "They said that the photographs were not up to EU standards and that they could cause car accidents," said Eskinazi, quoting Istanbul's urban planning department.
The municipality's urban planning department said it denied permission because the application was not in the proper form.
"We have no law that forbids (the photographs) of these companies," Ahmet Faruk Yanardag, municipality spokesperson, told Reuters.
Meanwhile other newspapers said some promotional swimwear photographs were denied permission due to their proximity to mosques.
Yanardag denied the accusation, citing an existing billboard near a mosque. "We are concerned with the aesthetics of the city, Istanbul after all is a historical city we have to make sure these photos are placed in appropriate places for advertising purposes," he said.
Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) City Design Directorate released a statement defending the bans on swimsuit advertisement. The Directorate said the ban is based on “regulations and public complaints.”
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