Published on: Friday 20 May 2011, 14:55 by Fréderike Geerdink in Hoofdartikel, Politics, Religion, Stories, Women
Published in: monthly magazine Opzij, June 2011
The Turkish parliament has up to now been a forbidden area for women wearing a headscarf. And in the labour market women who cover their hair are discriminated against. Aynur Bayram tries to change that by standing as an independent candidate in the upcoming general elections.
A hundred thousand votes. That’s how many votes Aynur Bayram (30) has to collect in one of the two districts in the Turkish capital of Ankara, a city of more than 5 million inhabitants. If she succeeds, she will take an oath a few weeks after the elections and become an MP. With headscarf. The first ever in the Turkish parliament. Bayram: ‘Many people say the time isn’t right for it yet. But when is the time right then? It only takes courage.’
There is courage needed indeed. The last woman with a headscarf in Turkey who was elected as a representative, Merve Kavakci, was booed out of parliament before she got the chance to take the oath. That was in 1999, and since then no party has dared to put scarfed women on their candidates list. The courage to conquer the bastion of male power and strict secularism comes from one woman during the elections on June 12th.
via Headscarf conquers parliament | Journalist in Turkey, background articles, news and weblog about Turkey and Istanbul.