Turkish court annuls headscarf law

Friday 06th June, 06:10 AM JST

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12 Comments

Betzee at 09:43 AM JST - 6th June

The AKP, the moderate offshoot of a banned Islamist party, pushed the headscarf amendment through parliament, arguing that the ban—imposed after a 1980 military coup—violates freedom of conscience and the right to education.

This is essentially an American argument. But Turkish secularism is based on ideas drawn from the French Enlightment which mandated religion must be kept out of the public sphere. Ironically, Turkey's bid to join the EU helped the Islamists since member countries cannot discriminate along the lines prescribed by Turkish state secularism.

Many fear that outlawing the AKP, a coalition of religious conservatives, pro-business liberals and mainstream center-right politicians, would throw Turkey into political chaos as the party still enjoys solid public support in the face of a weak and fractured opposition.

The AKP would be reconstituted under a different name, this is a well established precedent in Turkish politics.
adaydream at 11:45 AM JST - 6th June

There is going to be some real turmoil in the middle east in the near future. I'm not even talking about the US pulling out of Iraq. That'll be nothing compared to when the different sects and factions start fighting to take control. < :-)
Zaphod at 12:47 PM JST - 6th June

" "It says it has disowned its Islamist roots and embraced Turkey’s bid to join the European Union, but maintains that rigid interpretations of secularism in Turkey breach religious freedoms. "

Of course the AKP has not "disowned its islamist roots". That is pure Taqquiva, and the Turkish secularists know that. Alas, the idiots in the European community do not and continue to help the islamists in Turkey dismantle Kemalism. Stand by for EU to condemn the Turkish courts and demand the laws changed to allow political islam to grow in the name of "religious freedom".
Betzee at 10:03 PM JST - 6th June

to help the islamists in Turkey dismantle Kemalism.

The problem with Kemalism is that Ataturk was acting as an "enlightened dictator" when he set the Republic up after the disbandment of the Ottoman Empire. The military is the keeper of the Kemal legacy which means it has interferred in domestic politics in a way that is unacceptable to the EU.

There's a significant class component to the head scarf issue in Turkey. Nobody cared when female members of the upscale shopping mall custodial staff wore head scarves as they cleaned the bathrooms. It was only when shoppers appeared in headscarves that secularists, and women in particular, became nervous. An observant middle class is now evident in Istanbul.
usaexpat at 11:13 PM JST - 6th June

Good for Turkey, a success story in the Muslim world because the government remains fiercely secular. Other countries who intermingle religeon and government should take a lesson here.
usaexpat at 11:15 PM JST - 6th June

Zaphod you are right on the mark. Look what the EU's tolerance has gotten them. For a group of nations with far less religeous observance than the US (at least according to the pope) it seems amazing that they are so willing to allow Muslim immigrants to hijack the Eurpoean system.
WilliB at 01:07 AM JST - 7th June

usaexpat:

" Good for Turkey, a success story in the Muslim world "

A success story in the muslim world, but hardly a reason for us to sleep easy. Kemal Ataturk put a lid on islam by nationalising it. That way, the jihadists are kept at bay. On the other hand, islam is a national project. IT is the state religion, the ministry of religion builds mosques and pays imams and checks their sermons. And it keeps other religions out -- Christians and Jews are alowed to live, but not to own church/synagogues, to preach openly, or to educate their clergy. And still Christian pastors are routinely shot and threatened. The result is that now Turkey is 99.99% muslim.

If you think that is the way to solve the islamist problem in the West, think again. Do you really want islam as state religion in your country, even if it is a controlled islam of the Kemalist kind?
Betzee at 09:48 AM JST - 7th June

Good for Turkey, a success story in the Muslim world because the government remains fiercely secular.

Turkey allows Iranians to vacation there and they go in droves because it's visa free. It certainly is good for them to see a different example.

The problem is not with the EU, democratization has been an ongoing process in Turkey and the resurgence of interest in Islam dates back to the 1980s. The fundamental problem is that banning religion from the public sphere is incompatible with democracy. Look at all the problems with Christmas celebrations in public places in the USA and how secularists have been castigated on that.

I'm no more happy than anyone else with this trend in Turkey but maintaining the headscarf ban is unlikely to make secularists out of believers.
WilliB at 02:13 PM JST - 9th June

Betzee:

" The fundamental problem is that banning religion from the public sphere is incompatible with democracy. "

No. The fundamental problem is that islam itself incompatible with democracy.

And people like you and the Eurocrats, who view islam simply a private religion and ignore islam`s political character are digging the grave of the West.
Betzee at 09:03 PM JST - 9th June

No. The fundamental problem is that islam itself incompatible with democracy.

I agree but that doesn't change the fact that religious expression cannot be suppressed under democracy. Where the West failed was in believing given the choice, Muslims would choose secularism and political pluralism.
WilliB at 09:51 PM JST - 9th June

Betzee:

" I agree but that doesn't change the fact that religious expression cannot be suppressed under democracy. "

The point is that an expression of political islam is not a "religious expression" but a political expression. The headscarf is the flag of political islam. If you allow it, it means islam trumps secular law. It means girls are under pressure to obey Sharia instead of secular law. Please note that secular muslims (secular Turks, secular Tunesians etc. do NOT wear the headscarf). In muslim countries the potency of the symbol is understood --- ironically, we in the West help the islamist fundis by pretenting the scarf is not political. It is.
Betzee at 10:25 PM JST - 9th June

On a abstract level, the head scarf is no different from a photo of the Dalai Lama banned in China. It's simply an expression of faith.

The issue in Turkey for secularists, particularly women, was that allowing females to wear head scarves on campus would inevitably lead to demands from those whose degrees garnered them jobs in public ministries that they had the right to wear a headscarf to work. At some point women who didn't wear head scarves would be pressured to do so. By contrast it's unlikely a Tibetan Buddhist would insist a Han Chinese accept his faith.

If you heard Mitt Romney declare last winter "Freedom requires religion," well obviously he didn't think through the implications of his remarks. It doesn't. Interestingly, France does not allow pupils or teachers to wear religious clothing in public secondary schools.