Turkish women turned off in protest

No water, no sex. That is the message a group of women in southern Turkey have given their husbands, banishing them from the bedroom.

They are not allowing their husbands into the bedroom because they are tired of carrying water to their homes from the well

Local governor Mehmet Carpraz

The women have been refusing to have sex with their husbands in an attempt to force them to re-establish a water supply to Sirt, a village near the Mediterranean resort of Antalya.

The local governor, Mehmet Carpraz, said the women began their boycott a month ago after getting fed up with carrying water to their homes from wells several kilometres from the village.

Our women are right to protest, but we're the ones who are suffering

Village leader, Ibrahim Sari

Mr Carpraz said that, since the protest began, men from Sirt had sought government help to repair the local water system and asked for the necessary materials.

The Turkish newspaper Hurriyet said most of the village women were involved in the protest, but gave no numbers.

'Joke'

"One of the women launched the idea [of the boycott] as a joke, but it is serious," said one of the women, Faliha Sari, referring to the boycott.

"It's natural... When we cannot wash ourselves and cannot wash our clothes, we don't want to do other things," she is quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.

Villagers said the water system, built in 1974, was prone to breakdowns, depriving the village of running water for months.

A village leader, Ibrahim Sari, said: "Our women are right to protest, but we're the ones who are suffering."

According to local newspapers, the bedroom boycott appeared to have been inspired by a popular Turkish comedy.

In the 1983 film, women in a village refuse sex in protest at having to work in the fields while their husbands enjoy tea and backgammon at the village coffee shop.