Headscarves and Secularism: Voices From Turkish Women ©

By Lamya Hamad

Muslim women around the world continue to tell those who ask that they wear the headscarf out of choice, not compulsion. Repeatedly many women who wear the headscarf confirm that it is a symbol of modesty and respect and a motivation to becoming a better person, not a symbol of oppression. Yet, skeptics in the West, and in some parts of the Muslim world, doubt the significance of wearing a headscarf or 'hijab' (as it is referred to in the Arab world).  Secularists and feminists in particular oppose the headscarf because they believe it to be a form of religious expression as well as a form of oppression against women. Nowhere in the world is this debate more heated than in Turkey. Particularly, after constitutional changes permitting covered women into public universities have been ratified.  

Turkey's societal fabric is unique and may prove to be one of the Muslim world's most promising experiments in democracy[1]. It maintains both its secularist and Islamic roots, and as Omer Taspinar writes in the November/December issue of Foreign Affairs, "the success ofTurkey's experiment in synthesizing Islam, secularism, and liberal democracy would be a rebuke to the 'clash of the civilizations' argument".[2]

However, relations between the country's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its secularists are stressed, especially since Turkey's government supported changes to the country's constitution to lift the ban on the wearing of headscarves in universities. Nevertheless, Western observers have commended AKP for its economic reforms and anti-corruption efforts over the years.[3]

Although Turkey's secular military institution claims to be democratic, this is questionable. Ever since the 1980 military coup, sweeping "reforms" have been made, which included banning headscarves from the campuses of public universities. This sparked concern from many human rights advocates over the years leading to the publishing of a report by Human Rights Watch in 2004: Memorandum to the Turkish Government on Human Rights Watch’s Concerns with Regard to Academic Freedom in Higher Education, and Access to Higher Education for Women who Wear the Headscarf.  

Secularism in Turkey is not just the separation of 'church from state', but also the banishing of all things that are tied to any religious value. It is more akin to 'state control over religion', which opposes the original purpose of separation, which was to create a democracy.[4]

Even though a majority of Turks, according to one report[5] would not want the Sharia as a source of legislation, 45% of the women surveyed said they wore the headscarf in public. This Gallup survey found that a slight majority of Turkish women did not wear a headscarf - 52%. The results also show that the most of the women who don a headscarf are 45 years or older (71%), and are usually less educated (74%). Only 29% of women aged 15 to 29 wear a headscarf. The percentage of women who wear a headscarf increases with age. The age group 15 – 29 is typically the age of university-goers, thus, with the ban on headscarves in public universities, most women in this age group are forced to choose between two basic rights – education and religion. As mentioned in the report, "by choosing to pursue her education beyond the secondary level, a woman has to give up what she believes is a religious obligation and a part of her religious identity".

It seems that the 'turban' or headscarf debate is a symbolic issue highlighting the rift between the "Islamist" and "Secularist" sectors. Although, there are other sectors in the community ranging between the secular and Islamist, the research paper focuses on these two groups to simplify the findings. The secularists maintain the position that the headscarf is a political symbol used by the Islamists reflecting their desire for a Shariah-led state, whereas the Islamists claim that the headscarf is linked to one's religious beliefs and identity and banning women who wear it from public universities is a direct breach of human rights. There are secularists in the Turkish society who do view the issue of the headscarf from a more liberal and democratic perspective, but that is not approached in-depth in this report.[6]

The number of covered women maybe sliding, but "religiosity" is definitely on the rise, claims the report. The number of people who define themselves as Muslim has increased from 36% in 1999 to 46% in 2006 and those who consider themselves as "very religious" went from 6% in 1999 to 13% in 2006. Forty-nine percent of respondents placed themselves closer to the Islamist side of a hypothetical continuum and 20% placed themselves closer to the secularist side and 23% in the middle. Despite this, the majority does not believe there is any threat on secularism in the country and 77% believe that democracy is the best form of government. Even with the increase in religiosity, the desire for the establishment of a Shari'ah state has decreased since 1999 from 21% to 8.9%, which coincides with the results of the Gallupreport[7], that most Turks do not want the Shari'ah as the sole source of legislation.

An interesting poll research carried out by the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, "Headscarves and Secularism: Voices from Turkish Women" by Magali Rheault analyzes poll findings and makes conclusions regarding how Turkish women view the topic of the headscarf. According to the report, the AKP has made constitutional reform a priority since it won in last year's elections. Although the public debates in Turkey have been dominated mainly by the headscarf issue, other important changes in the constitution were proposed, among which was the issue of freedom of expression.

The report briefly introduces the issue of freedom of religion and freedom of expression and discusses the level of support for freedoms by the Turkish public. The poll results also reflect who actually wears the headscarf and the Turkish women's opinion on the headscarf.

Despite the strong secular presence in Turkey, the report indicates that only 14% of Turkish women associate fanaticism with the headscarf.

The Ban on the Headscarf

The banning blatantly infringed on two basic human rights, namely the right to education and the right to practice religion freely. The monumental decision to ban any woman donning a headscarf from higher education in Turkey resulted in serious consequences. Many women had to choose between what they believed was a religious obligation and their right to pursue higher education. No doubt, private universities opened their arms to the financially capable. Many Turkish women have also travelled abroad where they can receive quality higher education and at the same time have the liberty of wearing their headscarves. However, since financial capability and travel are not available to all, thousands of women are excluded from the pursuit of a university degree.

There are secular states that allow their people to practice their religion freely. However, Turkey's secularists believe that any religious symbol threatens their mere existence and are in constant fear of the inclusion of Islam into the political arena.  According to the HRW memorandum, "This restriction of women's choice of dress is discriminatory and violates their right to education, their right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, and their right to privacy".

The Human Rights Watch makes it clear that it does not support forcing women to wear the headscarf or any country that does so, but at the same time, both coercion into wearing the headscarf is the same as coercion to prevent the headscarf, which defies both freedom of religion and of choice. The memorandum states, concerning the higher education issue, that "Headscarves do not pose a threat to public safety, health, order, or morals, and they do not impinge on the rights of others. They are not inherently dangerous or disruptive of order, and do not undermine the educational function".

However, along the years, secularism has not proven to be much of a democracy nor have rights been observed. 

Turks Support Freedoms

The Gallup report, Headscarves and Secularism: Voices from Turkish Women, shows that the majority of Turks support freedoms. The new reforms made recently in Turkey were not solely about the headscarf issue and included allowing freedom of expression, which has been an issue in Turkey for sometime. In both cases, the majority of Turks polled favored the constitutional changes. Reforms to the constitution were made to articles such as article 301 ofTurkey's penal code, which was branded by amnesty a 'threat to freedom of expression'. It states that:

Public denigration of Turkishness, the Republic or the Grand National Assembly of Turkey shall be punishable by imprisonment of between six months and three years.

 Public denigration of the Government of the Republic of Turkey, the judicial institutions of the State, the military or security structures shall be punishable by imprisonment of between six months and two years.

 In cases where denigration of Turkishness is committed by a Turkish citizen in another country the punishment shall be increased by one third.

Expressions of thought intended to criticize shall not constitute a crime.

Over the years, many Turkish writers have been 'charged with insulting Turkishness'. The adjustments made to the constitution embraced the freedoms in general. The freedom of religion and the right to wear a headscarf in public universities is a form of freedom of expression and not confined to only freedom of religious practice.

The results of this poll are based on face-to-face interviews (as stated at the end of the report). The survey included 1001 people, aged 15 or older in Turkey in May 2007. TheGallup center claims with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Ninety-three percent of Turks said they would agree to the addition of a freedom of speech provision, which stated that all citizens would be allowed to express their opinions on political, social, and economic issues of the day. Only 3% disagreed to the inclusion of that provision, whereas 4% said they did not know or were confused.

When asked if they would agree to a freedom of religion provision, which allowed all Turks the freedom of following any religion they choose and observe its religious practices, 91% said they would agree.

Although the majority of Turks support freedom of religion, only 73% said that religion was important in their lives. According to the report, when asked about their perception of the role of Sharia (Islamic law) in legislation, only 7% said it should be the sole source of legislation. Whereas 26% said that it should be a source of legislation, and the majority 41% said it should not be a source of legislation at all.

Who Wears the Headscarf?

Despite common thought, most women in Turkey wear the headscarf because they believe it is a religious obligation (49%) and a symbol of Muslim identity (35%). Other reasons mentioned were, makes me feel confident, tradition, to obey husband/father/brother, preserves my dignity and likes the way it looks, these reasons together account for only 5% of the responses. This indicates that the main reason for covering would be to "express their religious identity and fulfill their spiritual obligation, not because of coercion".

On the other hand, the main reason for women not to wear the headscarf was that they did not believe it was a religious obligation (59%), whereas only 1% said they did not like the way the headscarf looked. Other reasons fewer than 10% of respondents attributed to not wearing a headscarf were to obey male relatives, the headscarf is old-fashioned, or to be seen as an equal.

Turkey is well known as a staunch secular state, yet just 14% of Turks view the headscarf as a symbol of fanaticism and 12% consider it a sign of backwardness. Sixty-six percent of Turks associate the headscarf with being religious. Thirty-eight percent link the headscarf with freedom and 26% associate it with oppression.

Secularists in Turkey often refer to the headscarf as a political symbol that threatens the secular state, and not as a traditional or religious obligation. However, the report suggests that the majority of Turks support the freedom of religion and speech and they view religious and democratic values as compatible. They also view wearing the headscarf as a matter of choice, based on faith, not compulsion due to a certain ideology.   

Religion, Society, and Politics in a Changing Turkey

Another research report by Ali Carkoglu and Binnaz Toprak, "Religion, Society, and Politics in a Changing Turkey" is a comprehensive, well-written, and exceedingly interesting study. It also touches upon the headscarf ban in Turkish universities in a more in-depth approach since the study ultimately analyzes the Turkish society and the concept of covering in context with other issues affecting the Turkish community. This is also a recent study, carried out on 1492 people in voting-age between May 6 and June 11, 2006. The study also compares its current results to a similar study done by the same authors in 1999 in an attempt to measure the changes that occurred in Turkey throughout the seven-year period. The Turkish experiment is noteworthy because it presents a unique example of 'merging' so-to-speak of different ideologies, sectors, and religions. This seven-year period has witnessed many internal conflicts as well as the experience with democratic elections that seem to have had an impact on the society.

This 114-page survey research analyzed some of the main issues affecting Turkey, investigating the attitudes of Turkey's citizens to the issues of religion, democracy, terrorism, and minorities. The Turkish-version of this study was published at the time of the controversial elections and sparked debate amongst the public and media. The study highlighted five main issues: The "turban" issue, approaches to the issue of identity, "Islamist-Secularist" polarization, opinions concerning AKP and the AKP government, and the issue of "Islam and Terrorism". Although all the issues broached here are of great importance and are extremely interesting because they delve into the inner core of the Turkish society, my aim in this review is to focus on the headscarf issue. It was intriguing to find that some of the results in this survey research coincided with that of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, whereas some diverged slightly.

Despite the fact that the headscarf ban has dominated the public debate arena, especially since the 2006 elections and the current changes to the constitution, this report claims that this issue is in fact, not a priority to the Turkish layman, except when associated with issues of identity. 

The results of this report indicate that the headscarf issue is not in the top five priorities of the Turkish public. The five most significant problems are: unemployment (38.2%), inflation/cost of living (12.1%), terrorism/national security/southeastern Turkey/Kurdish issue (13.8%), education (10.2%), and economical instability/crisis (6.5%). Only 3.7% of those asked mentioned the headscarf issue. This was in response to an open-ended question posed by the surveyors. However, when people were given a pre-prepared list with five choices and asked to state which of these issues should be solved before all else, the results were 70.3%, 12.1%, 5.7%, 7,9%, and 2.7% for unemployment, southeastern Turkey/Kurdish issue, the ban on women wearing headscarves in universities, issues related to education, and health problems respectively.

The ban on the headscarf is given more importance when related to identity. Respondents were asked to categorize in order of priority the policies of four identity issues the government should implement before all else. The results were 11.4%, 43%, 17.6%, and 5.3%. For people of Kurdish origin to learn their mother tongue in state schools, lifting the ban on university students who wear a headscarf, enabling graduates of Imam Hatip high schools to be assessed with the same scoring system applied to normal high schools, and the financial assistance of the state to Cem Houses (Alevi houses of worship) respectively.   

The Gallup poll determined the amount of women who wore headscarves in public to be approximately 45%, whereas this research differs slightly, estimating that the percentage of covered women is 67.2% in rural areas of Turkey and 40.6% in urban areas. Although the numbers here are higher, the report claims that the figures have decreased since 1999 indicating that the number of women covering is less than before.

The report also reflects that women in the 18-24 age group, and who are well-off, better educated and live in urban areas are less likely to don a headscarf. Since the highest number of uncovered women is in the 18-24 age group, the authors assume that this is because they have chosen to uncover to pursue their university education. This age group is also less likely to be pressured to wear a headscarf. Yet, when asked what motivated women to wear a headscarf, 71.5% said that they do so because Islam commands it and only 7.6% said they cover because everyone around them does.

More than two-thirds of the surveyed sample supports the lifting of the headscarf ban and public employment, as mentioned in the report. Although the number of covered women has decreased since 1999, "the majority still express that they would not feel "uneasy" about, for example, a covered judge, or a covered primary school teacher".

Religious Identity and an Islamic State

Although less people would like to see the Shari'ah as the sole source of legislation, more and more Turks are identifying themselves with Islam now. This could mean that Turks view religion as a part of their personal identity, but would not like religion to influence their political policies. It seems also that the headscarf debate is more heated in the academic and intellectual circles or between the elite, but does not affect ordinary citizens unless it infringes on their basic right to education.

Common belief was that the number of covered women has been increasing in Turkey, yet both reports show this not to be true. This could prove a testament to the AKP government, since they have Islamist roots, yet do not try to propagate the headscarf through government policies. Unlike the secular movement in the country, which has tried to enforce their ideology through bans and restrictions to people's freedoms.  

Overall, both papers present very interesting results. Many of their results were consistent with one another, and the general direction of the Turkish attitude toward the headscarf issue is apparent. However, the results reflect the dual nature of Turkey's society. Of the interesting results from the survey, is that neither one of the groups (Islamist/Secularist) feel that the opposing group pressures them in general.

Concerning the headscarf, 93% of covered women said that no-one pressured them to cover and 90.1% of uncovered women said that no-one pressured them to uncover.

The second report, "Religion, Society, and Politics in a Changing Turkey", is a very comprehensive, well-written research study. The paper is categorized well and provides sections showing the general findings of the study, the conclusion of the study; they even provide the method of the study. Selection of the sample and the design of the survey are described in a separate chapter.

The complete Turkish experiment deserves to be re-visited in other reviews although Carkoglu and Binnaz have presented a remarkable survey research.  

*Lamya Hamad is the Reviews Section Editor.  

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[1] Omer Taspinar. The Old Turks' Revolt. Foreign Affairs. org.      

[2] Omer Taspinar. Headscarves and Secularism: Voices from Turkish Women.

Gallup World Poll Website. (The original quote can be found in the November/December issue of Foreign Affairs: The Old Turks' Revolt). Omer Taspinar is a professor of national security strategy at the U.S. National War College and a Fellow at the Brooking Institution.

[3]  Steve Crabtree. Turks at Odds Over Islamic Law. Gallup World Poll Website.

[4] From the report being reviewed.  

[5] Steve Crabtree. Turks at Odds Over Islamic Law. Gallup World Poll Website.

[6]Ali Carkoglu and Binnaz Toprak. General Findings of the Study:. Religion, Society

and Politics in a Changing Turkey, pg 26-35.

[7] Steve Crabtree. Turks at Odds Over Islamic Law. Gallup World Poll Website.

Source: BiblioIslam.net