TUNCELI, Turkey - Protestors in eastern Turkey have prompted officials to demand that female waitresses who serve drinks quit their jobs, and only "moral" waitresses be allowed to work in Tunceli, according to a Reuters report.
The city's mayor, Hasan Korkmaz, said most of the 20 waitresses working in Tunceli's 10 beer halls left the city late Monday, a few hours after the demonstrations by nearly 5,000 townspeople.
"Since these waitresses came to work in Tunceli last year, people have complained that they have had immoral relations," Korkmaz told reporters. "It's natural the people have responded in this way."
The women were blamed for inciting a recent brawl among jealous suitors that left two men dead and four wounded. Most of the waitresses are unmarried or divorced, and are accused of flirting with male customers and disrupting the peace, according to Reuters.
Muslim Turkey separates state and religion, but religious tradition can prevent women from working and attending school. Honor killings, in which women are killed for shaming their families, still occasionally occur in the east.
