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New outcry as Turkish PM tells female reporter to ‘know your place’

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Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan faced a new outcry on Friday over his attitude to the media and women after he branded a prominent female journalist a “shameless woman” and told her “to know your place”. 

Just ahead of Sunday’s presidential election which he is clear favourite to win, Mr Erdogan savaged Ms Amberin Zaman, who writes for the Economist and the Turkish daily Taraf, over comments she made in a television debate.

She had asked the main opposition leader Mr Kemal Kilicdaroglu in the debate whether any Muslim society was capable of challenging its authorities. 

Mr Erdogan lashed out at Ms Zaman, without mentioning her directly by name, at an election rally in the eastern city of Malatya on Thursday, calling her a “shameless woman”. 

“A militant in the guise of a journalist, a shameless woman... Know your place!” he declared.

“They gave you a pen and you are writing a column in a newspaper... and you insult a society that is 99 per cent Muslim,” he said, drawing loud boos from the crowd.

The government’s attitude towards women is also under heavy scrutiny, after Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc caused a furore by suggesting women should not laugh loudly in public.

Source: AFP