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Turkey Partially Lifts Decades-Old Ban On Headscarves

Published October 11, 2013 at 12:20 PM CDT
Merve Kavakçi pictured at a panel discussion in Geneva, Switzerland, sponsored by the Becket Fund. (mervekavakci.net)
Merve Kavakçi pictured at a panel discussion in Geneva, Switzerland, sponsored by the Becket Fund. (mervekavakci.net)

On Tuesday, the Turkish government partially lifted a ban that kept women from appearing in state offices wearing Islamic headscarves.

The ban dates back to 1981, and has socially and professionally isolated Turkish women who wear the scarf.

Though the religious call the ban oppressive, secular Turks fear that lifting the ban promotes a conservative state.

Here & Now's Robin Young speaks with Merve Kavakçi, who was voted into the Turkish Parliament in 1999, and wore a headscarf to her swearing-in ceremony.

She was immediately dismissed from her position, banned from politics, and eventually stripped of her Turkish citizenship.

Guest

  • Merve Kavakçi,lecturer at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University.

    • Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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