Author:
Publication: BBC News
Date: March 26, 2004
URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3571343.stm
A Muslim preacher in eastern Turkey
says he is being boycotted for telling local men to help their wives with
the housework, Turkish media reported.
"Women do all the work in this village.
All I said was men should at least carry the water (from the local well),"
Mustafa Platin told Sabah newspaper.
His angry flock, who stopped attending
the mosque, have asked authorities to remove the preacher.
"We can carry water, but this not
up to him," village leader Adnan Karsli said.
Mr Karsli of Kotanduzu village,
near Erzurum, accused the imam of frequently insulting village men in traditional
Friday sermons.
"Instead of teaching us about Islam,
he talks nonsense," he said.
"The men don't want to pray with
him any more, they go to mosques in neighbouring towns."
Imam Mustafa Platin confirmed no
more than three villagers joined him, even on the usually busy Friday prayers,
in Turkey's traditionally conservative east.
Mr Platin, a 27-year-old father
of three, said he meant well.
"Women do the washing, they look
after the livestock, they cook. And they carry the water."
"When I told men to help them, they
have reacted very harshly."
