Women of Anatolia

Anatolia is a land where women have always been respected and important, even glorified with divine powers. Since the ancient times, women have been a primary subject of Anatolian societies and altough various civilisations have passed through Anatolia, the cult of powerful woman has survived until today.

For example the origins of the first woman goddess, "Cybele" (Kibal in Phrygian, Kubaba in Hattic, Sibel or Kibele in Turkish) can be found in the ancient site of Catalhoyuk (near Konya), the most ancient human settlement uncovered on earth. The goddess is said to be the ancestor of Hittite's Kubaba, and one of the main sources of influence to the Anatolian goddess, Ishtar of Hittites. The name and the legends of her still survive in Turkish culture.

The Amazons (which I'll soon open a topic about) were the first recorded women warior in history, who were said to be Hittite women from the Black sea shores of Turkey, were equal to men according to Homer, and were the guards of sacred Hittite beliefs. They also fought during the fall of Troy against Agamemnon and Achilles. Anatolia women have proved their courageous nature again, during the War of Gallipoli in 1917, when they helped the Turkish soldiers against invader forces, and during the Turkish War of Independence, when armed women gangs of western Anatolia fought bravely against the invading Greek army.

Hittite women had part in the Hittite assembly of "Pankush" and the wife of the king had the authority to rule the country when he was away. Hittite women, just like Luwian (lycian, Carian, Troyan, Cilician etc.),Phrygian and other Anatolian women, had the right to divorce their husband, had right on his will, and on their children, nearly equal with men. After the medieval and imperial period when Anatolia was ruled by religion based empires (Roman/Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman), finally, the Turkish women have gained the right to vote in 1934, 11 years before France, the first European state to allow her women to vote and to be voted.

The Turkish word for Anatolia (Anadolu), means "land of mothers", or "full of mothers", and this is just one of the millions of examples of how mothers and women play a great role for Turkish culture.

Today, Turkey is one of the rare countries of the Islamic world where women are treated equally with men, and Turkey is the only country with a dominant Islamic population which had a woman prime minister.

BTW, this is all my own effort, not a copy paste article...