Under severe pressure from the European Union to speed up reforms, Turkey has been turning its attention to women with a new war cry of "education, education, education".
As it edges towards full EU membership, Turkey has been grappling with the Western view of it as too backward and "too Muslim" to make the partnership tenable.
Recent photographs of police brutality during a women's demonstration in Istanbul shocked the EU and severely jeopardised Turkish attempts at improving its human rights image.
It was a setback for the government which has been targeting young girls and women to ensure they become more "Westernised" in the eyes of prospective European partners.
In a country of 70 million, seven million remain illiterate, and six million of these are women.
As a result, parents are being paid to send their daughters to school, and hundreds of women's organisations are flourishing with financial backing from both local government and the EU.
One of the most colourful and well known is Flying Broom, which was set up nine years ago by Halime Guner to encourage solidarity and cooperation between women across the country.
Flying Broom is a close-knit team of just 10 energetic and dedicated women, which operates by producing radio programmes, screening films and initiating discussions about the problems Turkish women face in a traditionally patriarchal society.
The group set itself a target this Spring of visiting 55 small towns, villages and cities.
The 52nd stop on this tour of Turkey's provinces was the dust-covered opium producing capital of Afyon, moulded from remnants of the marble factories which surround it.
Flying Broom's General Co-ordinator, Halime Guner, is a skilful operator when it comes to handling the round of diplomacy with the town's governor and mayor which must be undertaken before her real work begins.
She ensures these men who pull local strings feel they are an important part of the project, and the BBC's presence in Afyon was clearly a perfect opportunity for the men in power to display their largesse.
Formal introductions and the obligatory glass of tea at the governor's office were followed by a repeat performance across the town square with the mayor.
Next was a tour of Afyon's attractions, including an old "hammam" for non-Muslim foreigners and a new women's refuge housed in a former police station.
We finished off with lunch with the mayor at the top table in the canteen of the civic offices.
But the Flying Broom's important work began in Afyon's town hall where 230 women, mostly wearing headscarves, eagerly filed in to find out how they can enhance their lives.
One film from the former Soviet Union showed women aborting female babies in a male-dominated society which values only boys.
Another showed how an elderly woman had improved her life by starting a carpet-making business.
The discussion which followed brought the hall to life.
"If you heard the woman next door being beaten, what would you do?" asked Halime Guner.
"I'd call the police, said one woman, only to be countered by another who replied:
"It would depend on who she was and if I knew her."
The message here was simple: it does not matter who the woman is, it is up to all women to support and protect each other.
But it is Turkey's headscarf ban in schools, universities and government buildings which continues to fuel debate in this mainly Muslim country.
Several women wearing headscarves said how they were looking forward to Turkey's accession to the EU because they believed it would allow them to wear their headscarves unhindered.
They appeared unaware that France has imposed a ban or that Germany is considering a similar move. And their belief that Turkey is soon to hold a referendum on the matter is misguided, as that is definitely not on the cards, at least not according to the government ministers I spoke with.
I began to wonder if these women were being spun a line by local politicians.
In the next 10 to 15 years before Turkey's possible EU membership, Flying Broom and organisations like it will be bringing women up to speed so they can make informed choices of their own.
BBC Radio 4's Crossing Continents was broadcast on Thursday, 17 March, 2005, at 1100 GMT.
The programme was repeated on Monday, 21 March, 2005 at 2030 GMT.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/programmes/crossing_continents/4353987.stm
Published: 2005/03/16 14:49:41 GMT
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