A recent survey claims that the number of women covering their heads in Turkey has increased “fourfold” over the last four years. While some interpret this as a natural result of Turkey’s democratization, others see it as a dangerous development for Turkish secularism. The choice of the words “fourfold increase” and “over the last four years” is no accident -- they imply that this is the Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) fault. Turkey has been debating the headscarf issue for over two decades now.

Female students with headscarf are currently prevented to enter the university in Turkey although there is no legal ground for such a ban. The ongoing controversy about the type of clothing for female students at the higher education institutions has become more intensified since the recent constitutional change in February 2008 to lift the de facto headscarf ban. The debate over this question revolves around whether headscarf is a religious attire or a political symbol, whether it should be banned to protect the secular foundations of the state or conversely allowed on the basis of individual freedom of religion as a corollary of secularism. The solution lies in the implementation of constitutional amendments without a further delay.

A debate over the headscarf is revealing new dimensions of political discourse in Turkey. While conservatives and liberals use the universal language of basic rights and liberties, laicists use a heavily religious language to prove that the headscarf is not a religious obligation.