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.