Turkey: Individual seats for women installed in parks

The new seats flip down when in use, but otherwise look like huge tulips

A district in Istanbul has installed 600 individual park seats designed to be used by women who feel uncomfortable sharing a bench with strangers.

The brightly coloured seats, in the city's Avcilar distract, can be rotated 360 degrees so that women can face any direction they want, the Haberler news website reports. There is also space for women to hang their bags, and when not in use the seats flip up to form the shape of a tulip. The flower is native to Turkey and particularly popular in Istanbul, which holds an annual tulip festival.

Mayor Handan Toprak says she thought of the idea after noticing a woman in conservative dress, visibly tired, who didn't want to sit on a bench alongside an unfamiliar man. "I know they are concerned that sitting with a stranger, with a man they do not know, will fuel rumours that the woman on the bench is having an affair," she is quoted as saying in the Daily Sabah. "We had to give an option to women, a free choice." Ms Toprak says another 600 of the seats will be installed in more locations around the district soon.

The seats are also proving popular with male park-goers.

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