Ruling AKP ally HÜDA-PAR defends single-sex education, criminalization of adultery

Duvar English

The radical Islamist Free Cause Party (HÜDA-PAR) has announced that they will run in the general elections under the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) deputy list although they are not officially part of the ruling People’s Alliance.

The party program of the HÜDA-PAR has once again drawn ire with their points against women and human rights.

Accordingly, the party defends single-sex education and says “Compulsory co-education should be abandoned, families who wish should be able to enroll their children in single-sex education schools at all levels of education, including higher education."

Moreover, the party defends the criminalization of adultery, online news outlet T24 reported on March 29.

The party program argues "For the welfare of society and generation, adultery, which has been decriminalized as a result of the imposition of secular understanding, should be defined as a crime again. Because prohibiting adultery is a human right aimed at protecting the safety of one's generation. The prohibition and criminalization of sexual perversions that threaten all humanity is within this scope as a human right that concerns the whole society."

The party also defends that women should primarily focus on family and household work, arguing “There is no discrimination between men and women in terms of the right to work. However, considering the positions and physiological characteristics of men and women both in the family and in the society, it is necessary to find work areas suitable for their characteristics. In addition, we believe that the man should bear the responsibility of living, and household should be the priority for women.”

Moreover, former Interior Minister Sadettin Tantan announced that there are links between HÜDA-PAR and Hizbullah, which killed scores of people in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and targeted mostly Kurds in Turkey's southeast region during fighting between Turkish security forces and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

In the last week, the ruling AKP extended its People’s Alliance, in an effort to garner majority of parliamentary seats, by two radical Islamist parties who target women and minority rights.

The Islamist New Welfare Party (YRP), who officially joined the ruling People’s Alliance unlike HÜDA-PAR, and the AKP signed a protocol including subtle clauses that are discriminatory against women and the LGBTI+ community.