Headscarf controversy in Turkey

Three Turkish women wearing headscarves surrounded by other diners dressed normally. (echarpe)

• In 1968, a female public university student, Hatice Babacan, refused to remove her headscarf in university buildings.
• In 1998, a Turkish student was banned for wearing a headscarf at Istanbul University.^[1][2]
• In 2000, Nuray Bezirgan, a Turkish female student, wore a headscarf at her college final exams. A Turkish court sentenced her to six months jail for "obstructing the education of others".^{[failed verification]} The European Court of Human Rights upheld the ban in 2004, finding that the law did not violate the European Convention on Human Rights.^{[failed verification]} In October 2006, the European Court of Human Rights upheld the university ban again, rejecting a complaint filed by another Turkish university student.
• In May 1999, the ban on headscarves in the public sphere hit the headlines when Merve Kavakçı was prevented from taking her oath in the National Assembly because she wore a headscarf. She was the newly elected-MP of Istanbul of the pro-Islamist Virtue Party, and she refused demands to leave the building. The secular opposition members protested by chanting 'out' for 30 minutes, and the then prime minister Bülent Ecevit accused her of violating the principles of secularism. A state prosecutor investigated whether she might be put on trial for provoking religious hatred. She received much support from Iran, by the Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati and hundreds of women demonstrating in support of the deputy.
• In October 2006, Turkish president Ahmet Necdet Sezer refused to allow AKP politicians whose wives wore headscarves to a ball marking Turkish independence, saying it would compromise and undermine the separation of mosque and state in Turkey.
• In March 2009, Kıymet Özgür who wore the çarşaf (chador) was attacked^{[citation needed]} by CHP members when she tried to get into an election bus of mayoral candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu in Istanbul. It was later reported that she had disguised herself to test the party's new initiative.
• CHP (Republican People's Party) leader Deniz Baykal surprised supporters by allowing those who wear the çarşaf (chador) to become members of the party in late 2008. The surprising move was viewed as a strategy to attract conservative voters to the party. Some criticised Baykal's move as an attempt to move the party towards the right.

Prime Minister Erdoğan campaigned in his victorious 2007 campaign with a promise of lifting the longstanding ban on headscarves in public institutions. However, as the Turkish deputies voted in Parliament, tens of thousands protested outside in favour of the ban.

On February 7, 2008, the Turkish Parliament passed an amendment to the constitution, allowing women to wear the headscarf in Turkish universities, arguing that many women would not seek an education if they could not wear the headscarf. The main political party, the Justice and Development Party and a key opposition party, the Nationalist Movement Party claimed that it was an issue of human rights and freedoms. The Parliament voted 403-107 (a majority of 79 per cent) in favour of the first amendment, which was inserted into the constitution stating that everyone has the right to equal treatment from state institutions. However, the move resulted in opposition throughout Turkey. The country's educational board and numerous universities vowed to defy the new law. In addition, the main pro-secular, opposition party of the Republican People's Party asked the constitutional court to block the new law passed, and viewed it is a move towards an Islamic state. Thousands of demonstrators supporting the ban also gathered near the Parliament against the move by the government.

After the failed attempt at lifting the ban against headscarves in public institutions in 2008, the Justice and Development Party arranged constitutional amendments in 2010 that would lead to lifting the ban against wearing headscarves in Turkish educational institutions.^[2] On October 8, 2013, the ban was lifted specifically at universities and government positions unless uniform was required such as the military, police, and judiciary. ^[2][3] With the support of the Council of Higher Education, the Justice and Development Party was able to persuade women who wore headscarves to return to school.^[2] Two years later, the lift on on the ban extended to judiciary roles in 2015 and the year following, 2016, to the Turkish police force. ^[3]

On 5 June 2008, Turkey's Constitutional Court annulled the parliament's proposed amendment intended to lift the headscarf ban, ruling that removing the ban was against the founding principles of the constitution. The highest court's decision to uphold the headscarf ban cannot be appealed (AP 7 June 2008).