Directive banning headscarf in public service to be canceled
http://todayszaman.com/news-320507-directive-banning-headscarf-in-public-service-to-be-canceled.html
10 July 2013 /ALİ ASLAN KILIÇ, ANKARA
A directive that was adopted after the Sept. 12, 1980 coup d'état is being abolished after more than three decades, in a move that will allow women wearing the headscarf to serve in public office.
The directive, which stipulates public servants should not cover their head, was prepared by the National Security Council (MGK) after the 1980 coup. It was adopted on Oct. 25, 1982. The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has recently taken steps to completely remove the directive. AK Party Deputy Chairman Mehmet Ali Şahin said work to abolish the directive was nearing completion.
Legal experts say that the directive is actually in violation of Article 70 of the Turkish constitution. They also note that the directive can be removed with a single cabinet decision. The abolishment of the directive also effectively ends many other dress code rules for both men and women, which includes instructions even on grooming.
Public support for the planned move has also been growing. A signature campaign that was launched by 57 women -- including journalists, artists, academics and politicians who don't wear headscarves -- demanding headscarf freedom has received significant backing from the society, with 5,700 people having signed it.
Earlier this month, the 57 women prepared a petition titled “End injustice: We want a solution, not postponement!” that says: “The biggest victims of the politics that marked Turkey's last 20 years on the Muslim-secular axis have always been women. We oppose every kind of practice that creates inequality for women who wear headscarves. We demand the removal of all legal and non-legal obstacles that impede headscarved women's employment in the public sector and election into general and local offices. We don't make any distinction between those receiving a public service and those offering one.”
The petition calls on all political parties inside and outside Parliament to take immediate and unconditional action in order to change legislation that prevents headscarved women from enjoying their rights.
After it was posted online, the petition received 5,700 signatures.
Professor Yasemin İnceoğlu, a lecturer at the communications faculty of Galatasaray University, who is among the 57 women that launched the campaign, told Today's Zaman that “this is an initiative which welcomes different political tendencies and rejects cultural polarization.”
According to İnceoğlu, there should not be any differentiation between headscarf-wearing women offering a public service and those receiving a public service and they should all be allowed to wear headscarves.
She also said if political parties are sincere about their discourse on gender equality, then they should ensure that all women are represented in Parliament without any discrimination.
“While there are headscarf-wearing deputies in Europe, it is very ironic that there are none in Turkey whose population is said to be 99 percent Muslim. As the people who launched this campaign, we don't propose a solution, we want a solution. We are the demanding party,” she said.
According to the professor, there is no problem in having headscarf-wearing academics at universities.
“Just as we have headscarf-wearing students, we can have headscarf-wearing lecturers,” she added.
Turkey's ban on headscarves dates back to the 1980s. After the 1980 coup d'état, a regulation clearly defined the permissible clothing and appearance of staff working in state offices, including the stipulation that the hair of civil servants must be uncovered. Women who wear headscarves were then denied the right to be employed by the state.
The ban was significantly tightened after Feb. 28, 1997, when the military ousted a government it deemed too religious. Currently, state offices do not hire women who wear a headscarf. Covered women are also denied employment at most private companies despite the fact that there is no law that prohibits the wearing of a headscarf in private businesses. Headscarved women are not allowed to be elected to Parliament. A ban on headscarves imposed for many years on university campuses was only removed in 2010.