Turkey opens its first online sex shop for Muslims that even offers advice on how to have 'halal' sex
- Haluk Murat Demirel sells everything from lubricants to herbal aphrodisiacs
- Inspired by friends who wanted sex advice and products
- Found the content on other websites and in specialist stores too explicit
A Turkish entrepreneur has opened the country's first online sex shop for Muslims, selling everything from lubricants to herbal aphrodisiacs and offering advice on how to have 'halal' sex.
Haluk Murat Demirel, 38, said he had been inspired to launch the site by friends who wanted sex advice and products, but found the content on other websites and in specialist stores too explicit.
'Online sex shops usually have pornographic pictures, which makes Muslims uncomfortable.
Open for business: A Turkish entrepreneur has opened what he says is the country's first online sex shop for Muslims, selling everything from lubricants to herbal aphrodisiacs and offering advice on how to have 'halal' sex
'We don't sell vibrators for example, because they are not approved by Islam,' Mr Demirel said.
Mr Demirel said the website - which offers advice on which sexual practices are banned by Islam and which are not - had proved unexpectedly popular since launching last Tuesday, with 33,000 visitors on Sunday alone.
Turkey is a majority Muslim but constitutionally secular country.
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul: Sexual moves provoke frequent debate in the majority Muslim but constitutionally secular country
Strict: Last year Islamic conservative Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested sex shops rename themselves 'love shops
There are relatively few sex shops, even in major cities, although in parts of Istanbul those that do exist advertise themselves with neon signs.
Last year Islamic conservative Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested they rename themselves 'love shops.'
Critics of Erdogan, whose roots are in Islamist politics, have often accused him of puritanical intrusiveness into private life, from his advice to women on the number of children they should have to his views on abortion.
Last week a Turkish TV presenter was dismissed after a spokesman for the ruling Justice and Development Party criticised her for wearing a low-cut top on television.
Gözde Kansu's outfit was described as 'unacceptable' by spokesman Hüseyin Çelik because it revealed her cleavage.
He launched the attack on Miss Kansu's performance during the Veliaht TV show without naming her but branded her choice of clothing 'extreme.'
He said: 'We don’t intervene against anyone, but this is too much. It is unacceptable.'
Following Çelik’s remarks, it was revealed that the host in question was Gözde Kansu, and rumours spread that she had been fired.
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