Last Updated on September 27, 2019
A powerful tremor struck Istanbul yesterday afternoon, local time, which saw nearly 500 buildings damaged and fourteen schools closed.
Several aftershocks were recorded after the initial quake originating in the Sea of Marmara.
Earthquakes can be powerful natural disasters which can cause enormous damage and loss of life, however, the root cause for some Twitter users might not necessarily be accepted by the bulk of seismologists.
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bi tane amca sokagin ortasinda bagiriyodu kizlari – hedef alabilecegi herkesi gostererek “deprem bunlar yuzunden oluyo iste” diye. amca sen saka misin ya aynen yerkabugu diyo ki hmm bugun tugce cok acik giyinmis hemen kirilmalar gerceklestirip titresimleri dalga olarak gondereyim
— белый кролик (@gregthemofoegg) September 26, 2019
And the apparent cause was women–well, promiscuous Westernized women.
Islamist social media users in Turkey sparked outrage on Thursday when they blamed a 5.8-magnitude earthquake that struck on women who “behave promiscuously”.
Women were reportedly harassed on the streets after the earthquake struck and citizens were evacuated from buildings.
The Islamists made women scapegoat for the tremor, saying they had provoked the earthquake by not dressing modestly, leading men astray, corrupting their chastity and spreading adultery in society.
One social media user interpreted the earthquake as a sign from God warning Turkey to cancel a Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, dubbed the Istanbul Convention.
Apart from women, the growing acceptance for LGBT+ causes were also in the crosshairs.
Women also stated that they were publicly harassed in the aftermath of the quake, directly given the blame for the natural event.
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Some believed the earthquake to be a symbol for the erosion of traditional values, spearheaded by women and minority groups.
America was also served a portion of the blame.
Ahval News concluded:
Women were also made scapegoats after a major earthquake struck near Istanbul in 1999. Two months after the 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck the northwestern province of Kocaeli, killing at least 17,480 people, a woman held a placard saying “was 7.4 not enough?” during a protest against headscarf bans at schools.
The placard referred to the country’s long-running debate between secularists and pious Muslims, implying that women had brought the disaster on their city by refusing to wear the Islamic veil.
Turkey, for some years, has attempted to gain membership of the EU for its numerous potential economic benefits.
However, a recent return to more fundamentalist religious positions, a shift away from liberal politics, and their use of migrants as a political bargaining chip amid the Migrant Crisis has rendered them less likely to imminently join under present socio-political conditions.
