Cornerstones of July 15: Women Who Are More Powerful than Tanks

Abstract:

Public reaction to the coup attempt in Turkey on 15 July 2016, organised by members of a terrorist organisation in the Turkish Army received a wide coverage in the Western media. This coverage however failed to reflect the pulse of the streets and the active presence of women from every segment of society in protests.

This commentary argues that the ethnocentric and biased coverage of the events by the Western media, their ignorance and negligence of the heroic struggle of women against the coup attempt is a result of feminist orientalism that portrays Eastern women as oppressed, submissive and incapable of taking their own decision and act upon it.