Turkey’s Headscarf Issue
The Turkish government is about to change the constitution to allow women to wear headscarves on campus. At present, women who wear the Muslim headscarf are not allowed to attend university classes or functions (private universities are a bit laxer about implementing the ban) or — like Superman — they step into a small hut or changing room at the university entrance gates and emerge with a cap or a wig in place of the headscarf. The issue is more than a piece of cloth on the head, though. It is one of Turkey’s ultimate frontiers because the headscarf represents different parts of Turkey’s population and their competing visions of Turkey. For those interested in knowing more, I’m attaching a copy of my article that came out in December’s Current History.
New York Times article on the current headscarf changes (click here)
“The Ebbing Power of Turkey’s Secular Elites” in Current History December 2007