Turkey's Tryst with the Hijab

This is a country where quite a few young women who wished to pursue higher studies had to choose between their hijab and university education. This is a country where the wife of the President Abdullah Gul was not invited by the army to attend its Victory Day parade in August 2007 – simply because she wears a headscarf. This is a country where the promotion of those government officers was blocked whose wives chose to don the scarf.

And yet, in February 2008, Turkey’s parliament voted in a constitutional amendment which lifted the ban on headscarves. Essentially this would mean that university-going female students are no longer compelled to remove their headscarves while attending their educational institute, and neither do they have to make a choice between their head dress and their education.

This decision has been widely welcomed by a majority of Turkish population, however, there are quite a few who are protesting against it. The main focus of concern of these critics is that lifting the ban on hijab strikes at the very core of the secular image of Turkey – along with a fear that hijab may soon become a compulsion.

But those in favour of the lifting of the ban quite aptly feel that the Turkish government is finally recognizing the right to dress as one of the fundamental human rights, which has thus far been denied to a select group of women.

The question which arises in this context is – why is there such brouhaha over something which is, in effect, a part of attire and a matter of personal choice for most of the women? Granted that Turkey wants to maintain its secular image (and that may have had a lot more to do with gaining inclusion in European Union than anything else), it is quite interesting to imagine that a simply headscarf can actually overturn this entire image, and give off an aura of an "Islamist" Turkey.

But this is exactly what has happened. Hijab is viewed as a symbol of political power in Turkey. When the foundation of a secular Turkey was established in the post-Ottoman era, the head scarf was one of the first things to be put on the ban list. Interestingly, it is said even now that one only has to put something on the ban list for that particular thing to become widely popular. Now, had the secular government of Turkey simply given the right to dress to women in general, it is unlikely that hijab would have become such a huge issue with people. Those who would want to wear it would wear it, and those who didn’t want to wear it wouldn’t be ostracized either. Banning hijab effectively meant starting and nurturing a system of activism against this ban, ensuring that even if it wasn’t a political issue in the beginning, it became one in the end.

And yes, it is because of the lack of foresight on the part of these very secular forces, that hijab is now indeed a political issue. Over the years, numerous cases have been lodged with the national and international courts against this ban. Turkish women who were banned from attending university because they were wearing their headscarves went to courts. These cases became high profile in no time. And along the way, those who didn’t know what hijab was in the first place learnt plenty about it. Many joined the activism to get the ban lifted. And indeed, the promise to get the ban lifted featured in the political campaign of Tayyip Erdogan leading up to the elections last summer. What else can explain the swiftness with which the government of Abdullah Gul has passed the relevant amendment in the Parliament.

There are now cries to impose the ban again. There are people who are heavily criticizing the government, stating that Turkey is no longer secular. Secularism means a separation of religion and state. How the freedom to dress should infringe on the secular image is quite baffling. After all, the Parliament has only lifted the ban on headscarves – it hasn’t made it a compulsion. Moreover, it has only acted in accordance with Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 18) which states: "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance." Wearing a headscarf essentially comes in the category of manifesting one’s religion through practice.

But yes, the lifting of the ban on headscarves means one thing is for certain – there is going to be a greater rift between the government which has been labelled as "Islamist" and the army which is known to maintain a secular image over the years. How this rift is resolved remains to be seen. But for now, all those women who have had to endure years of anguish at not being able to exercise their freedom to dress can heave a sigh of relief. And the critics would do well to exercise some principles of tolerance that they routinely lecture others about. After all, if you cannot give others the freedom to wear whatever they want, you cannot expect the same freedom yourself.