By Soner Cagaptay
On February 9, Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) passed constitutional amendments to legalize a specific woman's headscarf, known as the turban, on college campuses. The Turkish turban—not to be confused with the south Asian male turban—emerged in the country in the 1980s. When Kemal Ataturk founded Turkey as a secular republic after World War I, he looked to Europe, and especially France, for his inspiration. While American secularism provides freedom of religion, the French version that Ataturk adopted emphasizes freedom from religion—that is, keeping religion and its symbols out of government and education. Turkey’s secular courts have considered the turban a political religious symbol ―AKP leader and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose wife wears a turban, suggested that this might indeed be the case. Accordingly, the courts had, until last weekend, banned the turban on college campuses. But now that the turban is allowed on campuses, what will happen next?
The turban is a political wedge that bitterly divides Turkish society. Conservative women in Turkey have always covered their heads as a sign of modesty. There are a variety of styles to choose from: the esarp, an eastern and southern European-style handkerchief, worn by urban women, and a gauze cloth ―think of Benazir Butto― yazma/Yemeni, worn by rural women. According to a recent poll, almost half (49 percent) of Turkish women used these traditional head coverings, while 37 percent did not cover at all.
The turban, however, is a specific, nontraditional type of headwear that arose in Turkey during the early 1980s after first appearing in other Muslim countries. The turban exposes no hair and, unlike the other scarves, covers part of the face. Despite efforts to popularize it as a sign of virtuous living or political activism, the turban failed to become a mass phenomenon once the courts banned it on college campuses in 1989. According to a recent poll, only 11% of Turkish women wear the turban.
The spirit of democratic freedom suggests that the turban, which is also a symbol of religious observance, be permitted. Will allowing the turban on campuses make Turkey a more free, peaceful, and secular society? A look at more general attitudes toward Islamic practices across the country suggests otherwise.
Islamic practice in Turkey is far from homogenous, with varying degrees of tolerance for non-practicing individuals. In this regard, the country can be separated into three zones: the west, the center, and the southeast. Tolerance during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month when devout Muslims fast from sunrise until sunset, varies from region to region and is a good measure of the public’s feelings about practice of Islam.
In metropolitan western Turkey (which comprises Istanbul, Ankara, and the coastal regions), tolerance is cherished. For instance, one could have lunch at a restaurant during Ramadan without feeling uncomfortable—and even be served by a fasting waiter. Tolerance for practice and tolerance for non-practice are two sides of the same coin in western Turkey.
Then there is conservative central Turkey, where there is less tolerance for those who do not practice. Finally, in southeastern Turkey practice is deemed compulsory. In this mostly Sunni Kurdish area, Kurds follow the orthodox Shafii school, which differs from the liberal Hanefi school followed elsewhere in Turkey. If one tried to eat in a restaurant here during Ramadan, one may be insulted or even physically harmed. Indeed, each year there is an incident of an unobservant college student being beaten up or even murdered in the southeast for not fasting during Ramadan.
What will happen now that the turban is permitted? Conditions in much of Istanbul and the West will not change much. In low-tolerance areas, however, things will be different. In rural central Turkey, women may feel uncomfortable without the turban, and in the southeast women will feel compelled to wear them. Instead of resolving the issue, lifting the turban ban will create a new problem for the many Turkish women who choose to not wear the turban. These women will be under social pressure to conform to the new practice of “virtuous living.”
In order to resolve this issue, the AKP must convince the Turkish population that it is ready to protect women who do not wear the turban and that it is genuinely interested in women’s freedom. For instance, the AKP could pass legislation protecting women who do not cover their heads as well as those who do. According to a recent poll, 10% of women who cover their heads are forced to do so by their families and husbands. What is more, to assure secular Turks that it is not a single-issue party, the AKP should pass the turban legislation as part of a package of freedoms and liberties towards European Union (EU) accession ―lately, the party has shied away from EU reforms. Third, the AKP should allow more room for debate; the amendments passed after only three weeks of public discussion.
In the absence of these steps, Turkey will not necessarily become a fundamentalist state overnight, but it will become a country in which one symbol of religious practice -- the turban -- will become universally enforced in many areas. Religious homogenization will ensue, resulting in court interventions and counter-protests by secular Turks. What lies ahead for Turkey is a period of soul-searching and, unfortunately, political turmoil, until the country settles on a new balance between religion and politics.
Soner Cagaptay is a senior fellow and director of the Turkish Research Program at The Washington Institute. His latest book is Secularism and Foreign Policy in Turkey: New Elections, Troubling Trends.
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Comments (4)
The Clans chapter 33.59
What about the clans chapter 33.33 *And stay quietly in your house* Are you staying in your house ?
The clans chapter 33.36 says *you are not free* as well.Are you free or not ?
The same mistake is being done by the islamist apologists.They compare the present islam with Catholicism in Medieval Age.Not *Christian nuns*,but *catholic nuns*.
The Civilization is Protestant(although Italy and France supplied a little)
Lets be simple minded.If islam gives women *equality* with men,could you show any islamic country(execpt secular Turkey) where *men-women equality* exists ???
February 14, 2008 7:18 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on February 14, 2008 07:18
Well then, what is the Biblical view on these matters?
We have an example of the sort of dress codes observed by Christian nuns. We are strangely amazed to find that it is almost the striking similarity it bears to the sort of outfit, which most Muslim women wear. Why is that?
Biblical view:
What the New Testament has to say:
1 Timothy 2:11-14 "Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression."
1 Corinthians 14:34 "Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church."
1 Corinthians 11:5-10: "But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven. For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, for as much as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. For the man is not of the woman: but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man. For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels."
1 Corinthians 11:13: "Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God (with her head) uncovered?"
What the Old Testament has to say:
Genesis 3:12-16 "And the man (Adam) said, The woman (Eve) whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee."
Leviticus 12:2-5 "Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman have conceived seed, and born a MALE child: then she shall be unclean SEVEN DAYS; according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean. And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. And she shall then continue in the blood of her purifying THIRTY THREE days; she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled. But if she bear a FEMALE child, then she shall be unclean TWO WEEKS, as in her separation: and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying SIXTY SIX days."
Ecclesiastics 7:26-28 "And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a trap and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner she will ensnare....while I was still searching but not finding, I found one upright man among a thousand but not one upright woman among them all".
Leviticus 15:19-30 "And if a woman have an issue (her period/menses), [and] her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put apart seven days: and whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even.
And every thing that she lieth upon in her separation shall be unclean: every thing also that she sitteth upon shall be unclean. And whosoever toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe [himself] in water, and be unclean until the even. And whosoever toucheth any thing that she sat upon shall wash his clothes, and bathe [himself] in water, and be unclean until the even. And if it [be] on [her] bed, or on any thing whereon she sitteth, when he toucheth it, he shall be unclean until the even. And if any man lie with her at all, and her flowers be upon him, he shall be unclean seven days; and all the bed whereon he lieth shall be unclean. And if a woman have an issue of her blood many days out of the time of her separation, or if it run beyond the time of her separation; all the days of the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation: she [shall be] unclean. Every bed whereon she lieth all the days of her issue shall be unto her as the bed of her separation: and whatsoever she sitteth upon shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her separation. And whosoever toucheth those things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe [himself] in water, and be unclean until the even. But if she be cleansed of her issue, then she shall number to herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean. And on the eighth day she shall take unto her two turtles, or two young pigeons, and bring them unto the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And the priest shall offer the one [for] a sin offering, and the other [for] a burnt offering; and the priest shall make an atonement for her before the LORD for the issue of her uncleanness." SEE ALSO WOMEN IN THE BIBLE
In other words, the Bible teaches us that:
1.Women should learn in silence and subjugation.
2.Women should not teach.
3.Women should not have authority over men but should remain silent.
4.Adam and Eve were not equal in sin. Adam was not deceived but Eve was.
5.Women are commanded to be under obedience to men. God ordained that men shall for all time rule over women
6.Women must keep silent in Churches. It is shameful for them to open their mouths therein. If they have a question they should ask their husbands before going to church and then their husbands will ask for them in the church.
7.A woman should neither pray nor profess with her head uncovered.
8.If a woman prays with her head uncovered then she might as well shave her head.
9.Man was created in the image and glory of God, and Woman was created in the glory of Man, thus Man must have power over her.
10.Any woman who delivers a male baby shall be unclean for one week. But any woman who delivers a female baby shall be unclean for TWO weeks. Thus, females make their mothers DOUBLY unclean as compared to males.
11.While it is possible to find one upright man in every thousand, it is impossible to find even one single upright woman in every thousand
12.Woman is a snare, her heart is a trap, and her hands are chains. The man who pleases God will escape her, but she will ensnare the sinner.
13.If a woman had her period and touches a chair or a bed or anything else then that item immediately becomes unclean. Anyone who then touches those things shall also become unclean. They must then bathe themselves and wash their clothes because they have touched an item that a menstruous woman has touched.
What the canonized saints of Christianity said about women:
"Woman is a daughter of falsehood, a sentinel of Hell, the enemy of peace; through her Adam lost paradise" (St. John Demascene)
"Woman is the instrument which the devil uses to gain possession of our souls" (St. Cyprian)
"Woman is the fountain of the arm of the devil, her voice is the hissing of the serpent" (St. Anthony)
"Woman has the poison of an asp, the malice of a dragon" (St. Gregory)
St. Tertullian, while he was talking to his 'best beloved sisters' in the faith, he said, "Do you not know that you are each an Eve? The sentence of God on this sex of yours lives in this age: the guilt must of necessity live too. You are the Devil's gateway: You are the unsealer of the forbidden tree: You are the first deserter of the divine law: You are she who persuaded him whom the devil wasn't valiant enough to attack. You destroyed so easily God's image, man." Once again, St. Augustine wrote to a friend, "What is the difference whether it is in a wife or a mother, it is still Eve the temptress that we must beware of in any woman."
Centuries later, St. Thomas Aquinas still considered women as defective, "As regards the individual nature, woman is defective and misbegotten, for the active force in the male seed tends to the production of a perfect likeness in the masculine sex; while the production of woman comes from a defect in the active force or from some material indisposition, or even from some external influence."
Orthodox Jewish men in their daily morning prayer recite "Blessed be God King of the universe that Thou has not made me a woman." The women, on the other hand, thank God every morning for "making me according to Thy will"
According to the Jewish Talmud, "women are exempt from the study of the Torah." In the first century C.E.,Rabbi Eliezer said: "If any man teaches his daughter Torah it is as though he taught her lechery"
According to Rabbi Dr. Menachem M. Brayer (Professor of Biblical Literature at Yeshiva University) in his book 'The Jewish woman in Rabbinic literature', it was the custom of Jewish women to go out in public with a head covering which, sometimes, even covered the whole face leaving one eye free. He quotes some famous ancient Rabbis saying, "It is not like the daughters of Israel to walk out with heads uncovered" and "Cursed be the man who lets the hair of his wife be seen...a woman who exposes her hair for self-adornment brings poverty." Rabbinic law forbids the recitation of blessings or prayers in the presence of a bareheaded married woman since uncovering the woman's hair is considered "nudity" . Dr. Brayer also mentions, that "During the Tannaitic period the Jewish woman's failure to cover her head was considered an affront to her modesty. When her head was uncovered she might be fined four hundred zuzim for this offense." Dr. Brayer also explains that veil of the Jewish woman wasn't always considered a sign of modesty. Sometimes, the veil symbolized a state of distinction and luxury rather than modesty. The veil personified the dignity and superiority of noble women. It, also, represented a woman's inaccessibility as a sanctified possession of her husband. It is clear in the Old Testament that uncovering a woman's head was a great disgrace and that's why the priest had to uncover the suspected adulteress in her trial by ordeal (Numbers 5:16-18).
St. Tertullian in his famous treatise 'On The Veiling Of Virgins' wrote, "Young women, you wear your veils out on the streets, so you should wear them in the church, you wear them when you are among strangers, then wear them among your brothers..." Among the Canon laws of the Catholic church today, there is a law that require women to cover their heads in church.
Some Christian denominations, such as the Amish and the Mennonites for example, keep their women veiled to the present day. The reason for the veil, as offered by their Church leaders, is "The head covering is a symbol of woman's subjection to the man and to God": The same logic introduced by St. Paul in the New Testament.
Russian Orthodox women are expected to wear a head covering when in the church. Most don't outside of it in America, but many in Russia do, along with women in other eastern Orthodox countries Europe.
These are only a small sampling. For many more similar quotations please obtain a copy of the 70 page book"Women in Islam Versus Women in the Judaeo-Christian Tradition: The Myth & The Reality," By Dr. Sherif Abdel Azeem, World Assembly of Muslim Youth.
Furthermore, according to the Old Testament, a childless widow must marry her husband's brother, even if he is already married and regardless of her consent, so that she might bear a child from him (Genesis 38).
Additionally, according to the Bible:
"If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay the girl's father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the girl, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives" Deuteronomy 22:28-30
One must ask a simple question here, who is really punished, the man who raped the woman or the woman who was raped? What is to prevent someone from finding the best looking woman in town, raping her, telling everyone about it, and then having the courts force her to be his wife for the rest of her life?
According to Numbers 27:1-11, widows and sisters don't inherit at all. Daughters can inherit only if their deceased father had no sons.
So what is the standpoint of the Qur'an with regard to women? Women are indeed commanded by Allah to cover their heads and wear modest clothing, however, in Islam this is not a sign of denigration or subjugation to men, rather, it is a sign of chastity, modesty, and the fear of God. It also designates this woman to all men who might deal with her that she is to be dealt with respect. This could be compared to the situation in the West when one meets a nun or priest, how the nun's habit and the priest's robes signal those who meet them, that this person does not condone vulgarity of speech or evil actions. This is made apparent in the Qur'an in Al-Ahzab:
"… that is closer to their being recognized so that they shall not be abused, and Allah is ever Forgiving, Merciful" Al-Ahzab(33):59 (also see Noor(24):31)
February 14, 2008 12:42 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on February 14, 2008 00:42
After Headscarf,What's next ?
Very simple.Black Wrap and Burqa,what's next ?
Official Holiday on Friday,what's next ?
*Man can take four women* and whenever he likes,he can say *I divorce you*,what's next ?
Adaptation of Turkish Codex to Sharia Law,what's next ?
Religious Police,what's next ?
All women and students are oppressed to wear headscarves,what's next ?
All Banks will be closed,people are obligated to put their money at so-called islamic banks,what's next ?
Islamic State of Turkey.
*The spirit of democratic freedom suggests that the turban be permitted* No,wrong.
J.Kelly ,American student disqualified from athletic race for her headscarf.
France and Germany have already banned all kinds of religious symbols(including headscarf) at schools.
Netherlands has banned black wrap and burqa.
Back to the Future.From AD 2008 to Medieval Age and perhaps to BC 2008.Is it Democracy ? No,no,no.
Democracy should be based on Human Rights,not on Subjugation.
Democracy ought to be based on Man-woman Equality,not on enslavement.
Democracy has to be based on Contemporary Values and Rationality,not on the Stone Age Mentality.
Not *islamic democracy*(whatever it means),but *Democracy As Democracy*.
February 13, 2008 11:20 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on February 13, 2008 11:20
Western talk of women’s liberalization is nothing but a disguised form of exploitation of her body, degradation of her soul, and deprivation of her honour. Western society claims to have ‘uplifted’ women. On the contrary it has actually degraded them to the status of concubines, mistresses and society butterflies who are mere tools in the hands of pleasure seekers and sex marketeers, hidden behind the colourful screen of ‘art’ and ‘culture’.
A good example is in advertising, where a woman's body is used to sell products. Women are constantly degraded, and subjected to reveal more and more of themselve.
Feeling that one has to meet the impossible male standards of beauty is tiring and often humiliating.Women are not going to achieve equality with the right to bear their breasts in public, as some people would like to have you believe. That would only make us party to our own objectification. True equality will be had only when women don't need to display themselves to get attention and won't need to defend their decision to keep their bodies to themselves.
February 13, 2008 7:01 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on February 13, 2008 07:01