Mufti’s talk of women’s duties angers some Turkish Cypriots

By MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS
Associated Press

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — A Muslim religious leader’s instruction to women to dutifully accept a husband’s “invitation to bed” to procreate has sparked outrage among many Turkish Cypriots. Ahmet Unsal is the head of the Turkish Cypriot Department of Religious Affairs. He reportedly told women during a lecture on marriage obligations under Islam that wives must stay away from men except their husbands to “protect their virtue” and to safeguard the men’s property. A prominent female lawmaker in ethnically divided Cyprus’ breakaway Turkish Cypriot north has led of chorus of condemnation against Unsal and what is seen as an imported encroachment of fundamentalist Islam from Turkey on their secular community.