© Associated Press
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This is not the first case of sexism by Turkish President Erdogan. In his eyes, women are only mothers and housewives. The invitation to the famous creators of the BioNTech vaccine caused another scandal, write “Deutsche Welle.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is often suspected of sexist behavior. Not forgotten, for example, is the recent scandal called the “sofa gate” by the media, when Erdogan received European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Layen, but offered a place of honor only to Charles Michel, while Von der Layen he had to settle for a place on a side couch.
Now the Turkish president has once again given rise to fierce comments – this time over Erdogan’s invitation to visit Turkey to Ugur Shahin and his wife, Yozlem Turedi – creators of the first successful coronavirus vaccine and founders of the German concern BioNTech in Mainz.
Ozlem Turedji is a leader in vaccine development
Turedi, who is the company’s medical director and a lecturer at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, has no less credit for developing the BioNTech vaccine than her husband, Ugur Shahin. Moreover, it was the leading force in the development of the vaccine against COVID-19.
Erdogan, meanwhile, announced he would accept the couple with Turkish roots, but declined to name Yozlem Turedji. Instead, as a number of Turkish media reported, he talked about “Ugur Shahin’s wife” all the time.
On Twitter, this sparked an outburst of outrage. “Bildzeitung” quotes some of the posts: “Women may not have names for you, but her name is still Ozlem Türeji. Enough with this cavemanly male mentality!”, Wrote one user. Eileen Kotil, who until recently was in active politics, wrote the following: “Mr. Ugur’s wife? Is this the only thing that distinguishes a prominent representative of academia and academia, such as Yozlem Tureji ?!”
The Frankfurter Rundschau also quoted the outraged opinion of Liesel Hinz, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore: “Erdogan knows very well what he is doing. His behavior bears the hallmarks of populist misogyny,” she wrote.
Each Turkish woman must have three children
Another user wrote: “Yozlem Turedji is a scientist. She saved the lives of millions of people.” And one user points out sarcastically: “I don’t understand this excitement. So what exactly did Mrs. Erdogan’s husband say?”
On the occasion of another manifestation of sexism by Turkish President Bildzeitung, he recalled that in 2016 he said on television that every Turkish woman should have at least three children. Erdogan then criticized women who put their professional development above their responsibilities as housewives and mothers.
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