Women’s headscarves the subject of political debate in Turkey

BROOKFIELD — A news clip showed women in a Turkish fashion show sashaying down the catwalk in long-sleeved, ankle-length, figure-flaunting outfits with colorful, matching hijabs wrapped tightly around their heads.

People watching the clip at the Brookfield Library saw a contradiction: The hijab is supposed to be an Islamic symbol of piety and modesty, but these stylish hijabs seemed anything but.

Their reactions are similar to the secular Turks’ explained Wendy Youngblood, who traveled to Turkey on a Fulbright-Hayes scholarship in 2009; Monday she spoke about the political identity of the headscarf in modern Turkey at the Brookfield Library. Her talk was sponsored by the Brookfield League of Women Voters.

Turkey is 99 percent Muslim, and 45 percent of women said they wear a headscarf in public, according to a 2007 Gallup poll.

But by its constitution, Turkey is a secular country and the military is charged with ousting political leaders if they don’t uphold the divide between religion and government.

“If the generals feel the political parties are getting too Islamic for their britches, they clear them out,” Youngblood said. (Such a coup has happened four times in the last 50 years.)

A national rule states women are not allowed to wear their headscarves in public universities. If they do wear them, they are not allowed to take the final exams. Female judges are not allowed to wear headscarves either. Burkas are illegal, and the only women sporting them are the tourists from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Youngblood said.

A political divide exists between the secularists, those who uphold Turkey’s embrace of Western principles, and those who believe that secularism by definition should allow people to freely practice their religion.

Secularists charge that the women wearing the stylish hijabs, nicknamed “Easter eggs”, are actually making a political statement rather than honoring their religious beliefs.

The current political party in power is the conservative AKP, or Justice and Development Party. Its leaders have been taken to court on accusations that they are trying to impose Islamic religious law in Turkey. The fact that the wives of Turkey’s prime minister and president both wear stylish hijabs fans the flames of the debate, Youngblood said.

“It’s a huge deal,” Youngblood said. “You think Hillary (Clinton) got a hard time over her pantsuits. That was nothing.”

Youngblood showed a photo she snapped of some village women wearing basortusus, or plain, simple hijabs, on a ferry.

Basortusus were common 50 years ago in Turkey and were socially accepted, said Albert Uziel, a Turkish native who now lives in Brookfield.

Then Youngblood showed a photo of a made up, beautiful woman sporting a turban, or Easter egg hijab.

“That woman supports the AKP,” Uziel said.

“I don’t see that woman symbolizing a return to Islam,” one woman in the audience said.

“That is the symbol of Islamic extremism,” Uziel said. Uziel moved to the United States in 1987 to pursue higher education and ended up settling here.

After the presentation, Uziel said he believed the president of Turkey, Abdullah Gul, wouldn’t stop short of reinstating Sharia law in Turkey if it weren’t for the military keeping him in check.

“He is trying to bring back Islam in the disguise of democracy,” Uziel said.

Contact Vinti Singh at vsingh@newstimes.com or 203-731-3331.

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