Headscarf controversy in Turkey
[3] [4] and the suppression of hijab/headscarves and other prominent religious symbols in government institutions and public schools, (similar to policies in France, Quebec and Mexico)[5] led to heated controversy at times in Turkey.
Specifically, it resulted in a clash between those favoring the secular principles of the state, such as the Turkish Armed Forces,[6] and religious conservatives, including Islamists.
In the early 21st century, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reversed this,[7] and worked to "raise a pious generation" in Turkey.
[8] Atatürk never forbade the headscarf (the dominant form of hijab in Turkey, where it is called başörtüsü meaning head cover), but didn't encourage its use either.
Restrictive provisions were lifted with the amendment made in article 5 of the dress code regulation,[9] but remained in effect in the military, police force and judiciary.
[10] In 2022 both Turkey's Islamist government and the formerly secular opposition vowed to take "legal steps to enshrine women's right to wear Islamic headscarves".
[19] A regulation dated 16 July 1982, specified that: the clothing and appearances of personnel working at public institutions; the rule that female civil servants' head must be uncovered.
[22] From 2003, when the Justice and Development Party and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan gained power, they stated that they promoted education for women with programs such as "Hey Girls, Let's Go To School".
[23] According to journalist Aslı Aydıntaşbaş[24] Ironically, for [Erdoğan's] generation of ultraconservative communities, wearing the scarf was a woman's ticket to attend school or take part in public life.
In that sense, Erdoğan's tenure has provided visibility and access to public life for women who would otherwise be forced to stay home and marry at a young age.
[25] Like many of those that came before him, along with the history of Turkey that dates back to the ancient Ottoman Empire, which was an Islamic nation, women were seen as wives and mothers, not individuals who were meant to receive an education from any institution.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) reports that in late 2005, the Administrative Supreme Court ruled that a teacher was not eligible for a promotion in her school because she wore a headscarf outside of work (Jan. 2007).
An immigration counselor at the Embassy of Canada in Ankara stated on 27 April 2005 correspondence with the Research Directorate that public servants are not permitted to wear a headscarf while on duty, but headscarved women may be employed in the private sector.
[26] The professor did add, however, that headscarved women generally experienced difficulty in obtaining positions as teachers, judges, lawyers, or doctors in the public service (ibid.).
The London-based Sunday Times reported that while the ban was officially in place only in the public sphere, many private firms similarly avoided hiring women who wore headscarves (6 May 2007).
[30] Aslı Aydıntaşbaş and Büşra Cebeci wrote that "uncovering", i.e. no longer wearing the headscarf, was a rite of passage for many women escaping "from small-town conservatism" in Turkey, and "may signal the beginning of a movement in the opposite direction" of Erdoğan's Islamization.
Cebeci[31] described the "immense pressure" women felt from relatives "in most cases" when they tried to stop wearing headscarves – mothers who would not speak to them for months; fathers who lock them up or take them out of school.
[53] In March 2017, the Ministry of Defence in Ankara announced a change in rules to allow women in the armed forces to wear headscarves with their uniforms, which sparked concerns from secularists over creeping Islamisation of the military.
[54] In October 2022, ahead of the 2023 election, Turkey's government and opposition both pledged legal steps to establish women's right to wear Islamic headscarves, bringing an issue that previously caused severe splits back to the forefront of political discourse.
