Is polygamy good for women?

This blog was published on the website of the international news program Worldfocus on PBS

A proposal last week by Malaysia’s Islamic party argued that polygamy can be beneficial for women.

The conservative Islamic party has called for Muslim men in the country to marry single mothers instead of “young virgin girls,” said a state official. Al-Arabiya news channel quoted Wan Ubaidah, head of women, family and health affairs in a northern state,  remarking that although Malaysian men usually prefer young and virgin girls as their additional wives, this new proposal would help single mothers and widows who are finding it hard to raise their kids.

Read the rest of the article on the Worldfocus website.

Rising Islamist movements challenge secularism in Turkey

This feature story aired on the international news program Worldfocus on PBS.

Almost all of 77 million people in Turkey are Muslim, but signs of Islamic faith are noticeably divorced from everyday life. But a growing number of Turks are joining conservative movements that believe religion should play a greater role in the country’s ethical and moral values. Secular critics brand these religious groups as fundamentalist.

Correspondent Gizem Yarbil and producer Bryan Myers report on how traditional religion and modern democracy are trying to coexist in Turkey today.

Do Islamist groups pose a threat to democracy in Turkey?

This interview was done for the website of the international news program Worldfocus on PBS.

Dr. Ömer Taşpınar and Worldfocus producer Gizem Yarbil discuss the role of several important conservative religious groups in Turkey, including the Gulen movement, which is the largest, and the Mustazaflar-Der, which is influential in the predominantly Kurdish Southeast.

Gizem Yarbil:  How influential are Islamic groups like the Gulen movement and Mustazaflar-Der in Turkey politically and socially?

Ömer Taşpınar: Particularly, the Gulen movement is very influential in the social, economic and cultural (particularly education)  field. The members of this brotherhood are probably in the millions. I think of this movement as a pious Muslim version of freemasons.

It’s essentially a solidarity network and a civil society organization with religious proclivities. Some analyst are bothered by the movement’s cultish attachment to its leader but this is not uncommon in Turkish/Anatolian political culture.

Read the rest of the interview on the Worldfocus website.

Israel condemns Turkish TV drama for “incitement”

This blog was published on the website of the international news program Worldfocus on PBS

Gizem Yarbil is a producer at Worldfocus and a native of Turkey. She blogs about a controversy over a Turkish television program.

Only a few days after Turkey excluded Israel from a joint NATO war exercise, a new crisis is brewing between the two Middle East allies.

The problem is a television drama series that Israel condemns as state-sanctioned “incitement.”

“Separation,” a 13-part TV series that aired on Turkey’s state-run television channel for the first time on Wednesday, has several controversial scenes. In one, a Palestinian father holds his new-born above his head in front of Israeli soldiers at a check point. A few seconds later, one of the soldiers shoots the baby dead. In another scene, Israeli soldiers kick and beat elderly Palestinians on the streets and one soldier shoots a teenage Palestinian girl on her chest.

Read the rest of the article on the Worldfocus website.

Leveling the gender playing field in Turkey

This blog was published on the website of the international news program Worldfocus on PBS.

Correspondent Gizem Yarbil, a native of Turkey, recently reported with producer Bryan Myers on the signature story Female soccer players shoot down Turkish taboos. Gizem shares how women are pioneering a place in traditionally male-dominated sports.

Turks are mad about football (soccer), but most of them are unaware of a new development in the field: A new professional women’s football league. Now, a group of brave girls is trying to challenge the gender divide in Turkey.

The new league has been met with resistance, and some boundaries have yet been broken down. Many in Turkey still believe that women should be confined to the home, and that the football field is no place for women.

Read the rest of the article on the Worldfocus website.

Female soccer players shoot down Turkish taboos

This feature story aired as part of the Women in Islam series on the international news program Worldfocus on PBS.

In much of Turkey, playing soccer is something girls simply don’t do. But some women players are challenging the norms and taking to the field.

As Worldfocus correspondent Gizem Yarbil and producer Bryan Myers discovered, part of the resistance to women playing soccer is religious and part of it is cultural.

A La Cart – Street Vendors of New York City

Airing on: AlHurra TV

Reporters/Producers/Writers/Camera/Edit:

Gizem Yarbil, Tais Moraes, Rob Thompson

Project Adviser: Philip Scheffler

Street Vendors have become a New York City fixture. There are more than 10,000 in the city and more than 80% of them are immigrants. They work long hours under harsh conditions, counting on good weather to sell their goods and services.

Since 1994, vendors have been the subjects of New York City’s “quality of life” crackdown.

Here is the story of a day in the life of street vendors in New York City.

This 30-minute documentary has been produced as the final Master’s Project thesis for the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University.

A 22-minute version of this documentary is airing currently in the Middle East and North Africa on Al Hurra, an Arabic language satellite television network.

You can view this documentary at:

A La Cart – Street vendors of New York City from Tais on Vimeo.

Neo-Nazis rally on Capitol

Reporter/Producer/Writer/Camera/Edit: Gizem Yarbil
Co-Producer: Matthew Kennard
Still Title Photo: Zachary Goelman

Members of a neo-Nazi group calling themselves America’s Nazi Party rallied in Washington this Saturday against illegal immigration. As they rallied near the Capitol, others gathered to protest the presence of the neo-Nazis, keeping police busy throughout the afternoon.

Heroes of Gotham City

Reporter: Gizem Yarbil
Producer: Yaldaz Sadakova
Written by: Gizem Yarbil and Yaldaz Sadakova
Special Thanks to: Begin North Productions
For web only

You never know who you’ll run into on the streets of New York…

Turkish Media Monitor

Published: Global Press Watch

In a country of political and ethnic turmoil, self-censorship is a common practice among Turkish journalists. Among the major factors that put pressure on journalists are: corporate ownership of media, the economic dependence of some of these corporations on the government, the military’s influence on reportage, and a political atmosphere of heightened nationalism, which is reflected in a criminal law that subjects journalists to prosecution for insulting “Turkishness.” At the same time, some progress toward greater press freedom can be seen in recent years as the number of journalists imprisoned because of their work has sharply declined from the 1990s. Read the rest of the article.