Kyrgyzstan president: 'Women in mini skirts don't become suicide bombers'

[pmaitra]

Kyrgyzstan president: 'Women in mini skirts don't become suicide bombers'

ANADOLU AGENCY
Clothes can change a person's thoughts sometimes says President Atambayev

Women can become radicalised to become terrorists if they put on Islamic dress, the President of Kyrgyzstan, Almazbek Atambayev, has claimed in his most recent intervention in a national debate on cultural identity.

His remarks followed several weeks of controversy over government-sponsored hoardings or banners put up in the streets of the capital Bishkek to try to dissuade Kyrgyz women from wearing Islamic clothing, notably the hijab, niqab and burka, ahead of a visit to the country by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in mid-July.

The government-sponsored hoardings angered many Muslims

Addressing criticism of the design, President Atambayev said: "When we erected banners some smart people appeared and started pointing at miniskirts. Our women have been wearing miniskirts since 1950s, and they never thought about wearing an explosive belt.

Many people in the Central Asian state have been outraged by the anti-Islamic clothing campaign. A tongue-in-cheek Facebook group was created contrasting the traditional Kyrgyz head-dress, the Elechek, with Western women in tighter outfits. The inference was clear: was this option - the Elechek - any less conservative than the hijab when compared with Western clothing?

"Poor people! Where are we heading to?"

However, in 2014, while speaking at a session of Kyrgyzstan's Security Council, President Atambayev said that it was not the conservative clothing, or Muslim traditions, that he had a problem with, but more the "Arabisation of society [and the] deprivation of the Kyrgyz nation of its language and traditions".

In another protest against the president's actions, four young women in hijabs posed on a road crossing in imitation of the cover of the Beatles album Abbey Road. The caption with this widely-shared meme was: "The moon does not heed the barking of dogs."

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Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-36846249

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Commentary:

The fundamental point that I derive from this article and President Atambayev’s comment is that every nation should be free to wear their traditional clothes, but people should not be radicalized to the point that they have to adopt the repressive dress codes in the name of religion. Arabization of clothes in the post-Soviet space happened as a result of relaxation of information dissemination, which has exposed a lot of people to the radical Wahhabi and extremist ideology. This is the result of perestroika, or as many say, catastroika.

 

[OtmShank'Srevenge]

Both a miniskirt and burqa objectify and commoditize women. One is hardly better than the other.

 

[tarunraju]

Both a miniskirt and burqa objectify and commoditize women. One is hardly better than the other.

With the right persecution complex and victimhood, anything can be accused of objectifying women.

 

[Mikesingh]

Both a miniskirt and burqa objectify and commoditize women. One is hardly better than the other.

But you can't hide a bomb in a mini skirt! You can in a burqa!

 

[OtmShank'Srevenge]

With the right persecution complex and victimhood, anything can be accused of objectifying women.

that a great way to not have an opinion. Anything is something with the right or wrong perspective

so anything can be anything lol