One Aug. 26 news article read, “Madrasa disciple Dr. Sare Davutoglu, MD, advocates fatwas in medicine.” This odd news was promptly picked up by other media outlets, angry bloggers and shared on Twitter. All of these comments mocked the wife of Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, some of them quite offensively. 

The “news” informed readers that Sare Davutoglu, a gynecologist, is popular among Islamist circles. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s daughter is one of her high profile patients. She practices medicine in her private clinic as well as at a hospital in Istanbul. So far, so good.

We are told that the new first lady is a fan of the madrasa education system — implying she does not care for modern medicine, that she believes vaccinations turn patients into pigs and monkeys, that Islamic rulings can provide insights into medicine and that she is anti-abortion. The news in the secular media opened the debate over how she does not shake hands with men, while conservative news outlets preferred to ignore these issues completely. Several commentators on social media — already resentful of the ruling government's policies — did not question the reports' validity and the bizarre lynching of Sare Davutoglu started.

Followers of Al-Monitor’s Turkey Pulse may remember that several pieces analyzing why and how pro-Justice and Development Party (AKP) media and Twitter users target journalists — particularly women — actors, scholars and any other member of the opposition. It cannot be overestimated how greatly Erdogan has contributed to witch hunts becoming politics as usual. Yet there is another side to the story, one in which the Islamists — again, mostly women — become the victims.