Former Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) deputy and leadership candidate MeralAkşener has strongly criticized Turkish Parliament Speaker İsmail Kahraman for referring to her by the surname of main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
During a conversation at a fast-breaking dinner in İstanbul in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when Akşener’s name was mentioned, Kahraman reportedly asked, “Are you talking about that Meral Kılıçdaroğlu?” according to an open letter Akşener posted on her Twitter account on Tuesday.
Akşener said Kahraman’s remarks are despicable and undignified given the fact that a woman’s surname changes when she gets married.
In Turkey, married women are allowed to carry both their maiden and their husband’s surnames, while the official family name must be the husband’s surname and children adopt their father’s surname.
Reminding Kahraman that she is a married woman and a grandmother, Akşener condemned Kahraman for showing no respect to either religious or cultural values.
“Do not you hold anything sacred anymore? When did you leave the things you hold sacred, where and in return for what?” asked Akşener in her letter.