Posted on 05/04/2013 5:02:25 AM PDT by rickmichaels
ISTANBUL - Turkey’s national airline has barred female flight attendants from wearing red lipstick and nail polish, striking a nerve among secular Turks worried the country is becoming more Islamic.
Turkish Airlines, Europe’s fourth-biggest carrier, said the ban was aimed at keeping crews “artless and well-groomed with makeup in pastel tones”, as a natural look improved communication with passengers.
“As a consequence of our current cabin uniforms not including red, dark pink, et cetera, the use of lipstick and nail polish in these colours by our cabin crew impairs visual integrity,” the statement said.
Turkish Airlines declined a request for further comment.
The guideline follows other restrictions on employees’ appearance and on serving alcohol. Critics say they reflect the influence of the government’s conservative religious values at the fast-growing state-run airline, one of Turkey’s most recognized brands.
“This new guideline is totally down to Turkish Airlines management’s desire to shape the company to fit its own political and ideological stance,” Atilay Aycin, president of the airline’s Hava-Is labour union, told Reuters.
“No one can deny that Turkey has become a more conservative, religious country.”
Turkey is 99% Muslim but the NATO state and European Union candidate has a secular constitution.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AK Party, which traces its roots to a banned Islamic party, has relaxed the state’s control over the expression of religion, such as once-strict limits imposed on wearing the Islamic-style headscarf.
Such restrictions were aimed at reining in Islamism and improving women’s rights, but effectively prevented many devout women from studying at university or taking government jobs.
Turkish Airlines scrapped its own ban on the headscarf more than a year ago, and covered women now work at check-in counters and at other positions in the company, Aycin said.
Other Turkish carriers also have guidelines on the appearance of cabin personnel.
The flag carrier caused a stir earlier this year when newspapers published mockups of a new Ottoman-style uniform for stewardesses with ankle-length dresses, a proposal the airline’s management appears to have since abandoned.
That was followed by a ban on alcohol on planes flying to most domestic destinations and some Islamic countries.
“They are objecting to the lipstick and nail polish that we have been using for years,” said Asli Gokmen, 30, a flight attendant who lost her job with more than 300 others last year during a union protest and is petitioning for her position back.
No current employees were available for comment.
Turks worried the government is undermining the country’s secular order see a hidden agenda.
On Twitter, women posted pictures after applying red lipstick. One wrote: “Why not just ban stewardesses altogether so we can all breathe a sigh of relief?”
Some male Twitter users were indignant over the insinuation that red lipstick would induce a sexual frenzy.
Turkish Airlines passenger Ahmet Yerli, 33, said he did not think the new guideline was a sign of creeping Islamization but that the ban was still “absurd.”
“I’ve never heard of a plane crashing because of a women’s lipstick,” he said before his flight.
If you ‘tolerate’ ISLAM, it enslaves you.
Don't see myself at that ticket counter in this lifetime, regardless any female painting supply policy.
I'd like 'Running Dog Lackey Hostage' for $500, Alex
They’re slowly working their way into burkas. After that, women won’t be allowed to work outside the home. Islam enslaves.
Personally, I don’t see any problem with this. After all, for decades, pilots and flight attendants haven’t been allowed to drink while flying, so it seems only fair that passengers have to follow the same rules.
Paging Captain Obvious...Pick up the white courtesy phone...you are in dire need ..
Well, if the pilots are allowed in the cockpit, the passengers should be allowed as well. It seems only fair.
The EU would be making a HUGE mistake by letting Turkey join it.
This is too bad. Having been to Turkey back in the 80's when it was much more secular, i.e. normal, it is a terrible backward path they now walk.
It must be hard to get off of their sheets.
And that is exactly what the United States is doing today. We are tolerating Islam as they are dictating to us and taking over our country. Every muslim needs to be deported from our nation. The United States should be a muslim-free zone. Muslims all need to live in the Middle East, where they can worship their meteorite chip and live under sharia law.
Got it. No red lipstick, no alcohol.
But perhaps, if you misbehave, you can get stoned?
TTIWWP
I saved this quote from Gertt Wilders and put it on my profile page:
Multiculturalism made us tolerate the intolerant, and now intolerance is annihilating tolerance.
Doesn't the word itself mean "surrender" ?
The men may, of course, wear all the lipstick and makeup they like. Oh- and the sheep flying with them may as well.
"It's still a pig."
Fine with me, I’ve never seen anyone’s looks improved by red lipstick.
The girls were all wearing it and it was to say the least disconcerting.
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