The ban on headscarf had been in place since the foundation of the Republic of Turkey by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Thus, the headscarf ban served as a reminder to the 95 percent Muslim population that Turkey is a secular nation in which there is a clear line between religion and the state. One of the recent cases that put the headscarf in the headlines was when Merve Kavakçı, a female Turkish lawmaker and a Harvard graduate who wears a headscarf, was prevented from taking her oath in the swear-in ceremony in the Turkish parliament because of her headscarf. The incident took place on May 2, 1999, which resulted in Kavakçı losing her seat at the parliament and revoking her Turkish citizenship. President of Turkey at the time, Suleyman Demirel, called her an "agent provocateur" and signed the decree, on May 1999, that ended her post at the parliament and revoked her citizenship due, according to officials, to her obtaining an American one without informing authorities. "Now we are finally addressing what we really want to do with this large population of women who are in a way ostracized from society. They are here, they are not going away, and they are maybe growing in number and they want to participate in public life." Kavakçı told Today's Zaman Turkish daily during an interview on October 2010. The lifting of headscarf ban created different reactions across Turkey, with some celebrating the move while others slamming it as creeping Islamization or an ahead-of-election move. Islamisation? Critics of Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government, and his Justice and Development party (AKP), argue that the move to lift the ban on the headscarf is yet another step taken by Turkey's Prime Minister to "Islamize" Turkey and undermine its secular identity and heritage. They argue that such move would encourage a more religious lifestyle in Turkey by allowing "religious" Muslims to hold government posts and become lawmakers, increasing their influence and eventually affecting the laws and regulations of Turkey in a more Islamic way. "There is a true beneficiary in Erdogan's latest democratization package, and that is his Islamist grassroots supporter," wrote Semih Idiz for Al-Monitor news website on Octobor 3. "This is a major gain for Islamists, who have the potential now not only to hold public office in their religious garb — a fact vehemently opposed to date by the staunchly secularist Kemalist establishment — but who can also become school teachers, for example, and hold other such public positions where they have influence over young and impressionable minds." The opposition to the move by the government went beyond Turkey observers' criticism to some lawmakers arguing that lifting the ban on headscarf was unconstitutional. Mahmut Tanal, a Republican People's Party (CHP) lawmaker, announced on October 11 that he had appealed to the Constitutional Court for an overturn of the amendment to allow headsarfed-women to work at public institutions. "As a result of social pressure, people may feel obliged to wear clothes in line with religious orders or they may be condemned by those who are wearing certain clothes for not wearing such clothes. This would pave the way for a breach of the freedom of faith," Tanal explained his reasoning behind appealing to Hurriyet Daily Newspaper. He added, according to Hurriyet Daily news, that that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) had previously ruled that the headscarf ban did not violate human rights after number of students and lawmakers filed complaints against the ban. Other lawmakers and members of the CHP expressed similar opinions. The party itself and its leader have yet to make any statements. Democratic Reform However, other observers seemed to applaud the move and saw it as advancement to democracy in Turkey. Mustafa Akyol, an author and a journalist based in Turkey, called the move an "important act of liberalization" in his op-ed for Hurriyet Daily news on October 2. Turkish public distrust of the government's motive behind ending the ban on the headscarf seems to be due to a couple of recent moves taken by the government seen as preying on privacy and meddling with lifestyles. On October 8, a television female presenter was criticized by AK party's spokesperson Hüseyin Çelik, who stated during a live TV interview that the presenter's low-cut top, without mentioning her name, was inappropriate for TV and calling it "unacceptable". Following Celik's comments, news emerged that Gözde Kansu had been fired as the host of the TV program she earlier appeared in with the mentioned dress. The producers of the program denied the allegations that Kansu was fired because of the AKP lawmaker's comments or because of her dress. Yet some argue that the fact that the channel, ATV, in which the program runs is led by Berat Albayrak a son-in-law of Mr Erdogan had something to do with the firing of Kansu. "It's ridiculous, pathetic. This is my way of getting dressed and I will continue to do so," Gozde Kansu told the Hurriyet newspaper in an interview. The incident caused the opponents of the government as well as government officials to criticize Celik for his comments. "The violation against a woman with a décolleté is also a violation against me," Fatma Bostan Unsal, a founding member of the AKP, who wears a headscarf, and a campaigner to allow Turkish women to wear headscarves in state institutions, told the Taraf newspaper following the news of Kansu's dismissal. Yet, some see this as one of a series of the government's moves to enforce a more religious lifestyle on the Turkish population. Back in May, the government passed a bill that included regulations of the selling and advertising of alcohol in the country. This bill was also named as a reason behind the June protests that swept Turkey after the police crackdown on the environmentalists' sit-in Istanbul against the destruction of Taksim's Gezi Park. On the one hand, the frustration of opponents and critics of the AKP led government seem to have increased in the recent years, understandably so, due to Erdogan's divisive rhetoric and his governments crackdown on dissent, yet this frustration, even paranoia at times, existed since AKP came into power ten years ago. The current government has always been seen as having a hidden agenda that resembles a long-term target of turning Turkey into a more conservative nation in which Islam and religion becomes part of the state and the law. However, ten years on, this hidden agenda doesn't seem to have seen the light of day; Islamic way of living is not part of real regulations that limit people's choice or privacies. As a matter of fact and apart from Erdogan's authoritarian rhetoric and style, people seem to enjoy more rights than they used to before this government came into power. Democracy has become stronger considering the army's decreased power and influence on the civilian well. Women rights have seen new dimensions under this government with numerous amendments to the Turkish Penal and Civil codes back in 2002. Also, this government is the first Turkish government to take serious steps to end the decades-long Kurdish problem. Whether or not the last move to abolish the ban on headscarf was a sincere one, the move is still an important step that empowers almost half of the women population of Turkey.
