Turkey: Islamic headscarf flies over parliament just months before elections

His ruling party pulls out all the weapons from his quiver Recipe Tayyip Erdogana few months before the elections in Turkey. The debate on the Islamic headscarf has recently been rekindled in Turkey with the Turkish President preparing to table in parliament an amendment to the Constitution to engrave in large and indelible letters the right to wear, or not wear, the headscarf. Islamic headscarf in everyday life, at school and office. In the secular Turkish state, at least this political decisionrevives, a few months before the electionsa debate that the founder of the Turkish Republic Mustafa Kemal it was already closed at the beginning of the 20th century. Proof that the topic is current?

The very popular Netflix series “Bir Baskadir”, which pits a peasant woman (veiled) against two emancipated city psychologists. One says, zapping in front of the television: “It’s the new fashion: now, in all serials there is a woman in headscarf”.

The presidential and parliamentary elections are now very close and this has convinced Tayyip Erdoğan to take ownership of the issue, even dangling the possibility conducting a referendum on the (non) subject. But the first to start the debate is the leader of the opposition and historical secular Republican People’s Party CHP of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Kemal Kilicdaroglu is the one who started the debate by accusing Erdogan of “seeking to hold the veiled women“, broadcasts the APE-MPE.

Removal of bans

In this way, Kemal Kilicdaroglu wanted to reassure the Islamic-conservative layers of Turkish society that if elected to the leadership of the country, he would ensure that the right of the Islamic headscarf. “Is there a distinction between the covered and the uncovered today in public services? Sta schools; No!, Erdogan answered him. “We did it!”.

In the name of modernism, the principles of the young Turkish Republic initially adhered discouraging attitude against the use of the headscarf. It was then progressively banned from education and public services, only to be reinstated in 2008 under the Islamist-conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP) rule.

Ideal woman

Because for the feminists of turkey, who passionately support the uprising of the women of Iran, Erdogan’s aim is mainly to secure the support of the more conservative sections of Turkish society.

“Both the headscarf ban and the lifting of the ban were done in her name emancipation of women. In fact, both positions sought to impose their own model of the ideal woman,” writes Genil Tol, director of the Middle East Institute’s Turkey Program in an article posted on its website. “Lifting the headscarf ban is emblematic of Erdogan’s broader populist, Islamist agenda.” “He never wanted to release really women, either wearing or not wearing a headscarf. For him, the women are only mothers and wives, not persons”writes the researcher.

“The key to the true liberation of women is (…) legislating for women’s right to choose. Deciding when and if to get pregnant, how many children to have, whether or not to wear a headscarf, women should be free to decide for themselves“, insists. Turkish website named “You’ll Never Walk Alone” addressed to women who, forced from their family to wear the Islamic headscarf, they are now removing it. In contrast, the AKP has in recent months fervently supported protests against the rights of the LGBTI community and for “of the defense of the family”. In these demonstrations, all women had the head covered.