The Turkish women’s volleyball team ranked third in the European Championship after defeating the Dutch national team.
“We are a colorful team. We are a team consisting of different characters, so diverse that each supporter can find something from themselves. We are a team that can be “us”, can be one and can love each other under one goal.”
Turkey’s national women’s volleyball team won 3-0 in the match to determine the third and fourth places in the tournament hosted by the Serbian capital Belgrade.
Thus, they ranked third in the European Championship and win the bronze medal for the tournament.
The team’s captain Eda Erdem Dundar evaluated the factors behind this success as follows: “We are a colorful team. We are a team consisting of different characters, so diverse that each supporter can find something from themselves. We are a team that can be “us”, can be one and can love each other under one goal.”
Religious attacks
However, during the tournament, some religious groups attacked the players over their so-called decency and morality. The most famous of these attacks was symbolized by İhsan Şenocak, the founder of Scientific and Intellectual Research Center (IFAM), a religious association in Turkey, triggering a barrage of reactions both in support of and against him.
His tweet expostulated the team and discussing a woman’s place in Islam spurred backlash online and, as predicted, caused a further discussion about women’s rights and secularism in Turkey.
“Daughter of Islam! You are the sultan of faith, chastity, morality and modesty .. not of sports fields,” he tweeted. “You are the child of mothers who refrain from showing their nose [out of modesty]. Don’t be … the victim of popular culture. You are our hope and our prayer.”
After his tweet accusing the team of being immodest, Senocak had to publish another tweet in which he claimed “there was nothing offensive” in his earlier tweet and that it was “simply a call about what a woman should and should not be in Islam.”
In fact, this is not the first time, the national volleyball team were under the scrutiny of predominantly male conservatives. In January 2020, a member of the National People’s Party (MHP) Birol Şahin was removed from the party ranks due to accusing the team of being immodest. Following a victory against Germany that secured the team the right to attend the Tokyo Olympics, Şahin said, “By defying the order of God to cover your body lines, you are dressing immodestly, you are exposing yourselves and you are glad about it because you are going to Tokyo.”
Homophobic attacks
Women’s national volleyball team player Ebrar Karakurt shared a photo with his girlfriend on Instagram on August 15.
The photo received both homophobic comments and support, as well as more than 160,000 likes in about 16 hours.
Smash the patriarchy 💪♀️#EbrarKarakurt pic.twitter.com/wc6a2Unw4x
— Meziyet (@meziyetyldz) August 15, 2021
Karakurt later deleted the photo but her name became a trending topic on Twitter in Turkey.
Her teammates showed no such restraint, tweeting messages of solidarity with Karakurt. Also many social media users, public figures and her teammates announced support for the athlete.
Turkey’s National Volleyball Federation was also on Karakurt’s side. “Ebrar Karakurt is among the most important and promising players [in] Turkish volleyball,” spokesperson Kurtaran Mumcu said. “Everyone’s personal life concerns themselves alone,” he added.
Yıldız Tar, media and communication program coordinator for Kaos GL, Turkey’s oldest LGBT+ advocacy group, said she wasn’t surprised by the sea of support for Karakurt. “We have made huge strides. Turkey’s society is far more accepting of the LGBT+ community but the government has fallen behind society and is persisting in anachronistic and homophobic policies.”