Erdogan and the Battle over the Veil
Elias Harfouch Al Hayat - 05/02/08//
Once again, Turkey proves that it is still part of this region which is narrow-minded and intolerant toward pluralism or anything different. Turkey may be interested in conveying the impression that it has become competent enough to cross the gate to the European Union, which implies it can respect and protect differences and can safeguard the freedom of every individual in society as long as it does not threaten the freedom of others. As usual, however, the endless debate over the veil and the right to put it on or take it off and the controversy over the right of custodian institutions, especially the army, to forcibly interfere to block this right immediately return Turkey to its original affiliation with a plagued region dominated by a single opinion, a single creed, and a single ideology.
Hence, secularism was adopted in or burdened with a most fanatic interpretation in Turkey, where it eventually evolved into a historic "party" of the glorious leader, Ataturk. The staunch defense of this "ideology" became a cause worth splitting society over, and even worse, threatening the peaceful coexistence that emerged between the army leadership and the Justice and Development Party as a result of their common war against the so-called separatist Kurdish movement. Such a war must certainly have far more serious implications on the future of Turkey's state and institutions than the endless dispute over the veil.
The Justice and Development Party (AKP) defends its recent position on the bill proposed to parliament to allow university students to wear the veil on the basis that it is a defense of individual freedom. One of Prime Minister Receb Tayyib Erdogan's assistants said, "We want to eliminate all kinds of bans in Turkish society. We want everyone to walk freely wearing whatever he wants. We want every girl to have the right to go to school or university whether she was wearing a short skirt or a veil." However, the party that upholds the banner of freedom in its western liberal meaning is at the same time accused by its opponents of trying to pave the way to tougher religious laws that may start with the right to wear the veil and lead to far more. Those opponents claim that such a development by a party unknown for its liberalism may eventually undermine the foundations of the republic, and consequently must be stopped before it reaches this stage. At the same time, statements and stances that do not truly defend liberties serve critics as they come from a few AKP party leaders who used to be affiliated with a school of "infidels" that has nothing to do with the slogans endorsed by the leaders of the party today.
If the military establishment along with the judiciary, university professors and protectors of radical secularism belong to a school of political thought that considers itself in charge of serving and protecting the country, then so does the political movement that leads the struggle to lift the ban on the veil. This movement sees victory in its battle as a triumph for the project that will allow Turkey to claim equality with most western regimes, where the state holds people accountable for actions that threaten internal security and civil order, not for their dress or thought. It is for all this that Erdogan has accused his opponents in the battle over the veil of dividing society by accusing those who do not dress up or think like them of being enemies of the state.
It is unusual for the veil issue to go this far and to arouse such divisive sentiments in a country where Muslims constitute 99% of the population. In the past, the ban on the veil was imposed by force without any consideration for the feelings of the majority of Turks. It is now feared that the attempts to lift the ban through parliament where the ruling party and its nationalist allies enjoy the majority will create a new opportunity for radical secularists and their supporters in the military to crush a successful democratic stage in Turkey's history before the Turks get the opportunity to reap its fruits.
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