Turkish First lady interviewed by The Times
Turkish First lady interviewed by The Times
Hayrunnisa Gul, the wife of President Abdullah Gul, underlined in an interview with an English newspaper that it is her head she covers with the Islamic headscarf — not her brain.
Hayrunnisa Gul, the wife of Turkish President Abdullah Gul, underlined in an interview with an English newspaper that it is her head she covers with the Islamic headscarf — not her brain.
The first lady, who was interviewed by Janice Turner of UK daily The Times, said she did not believe headscarves should be forced on women.
“To me, women should not be forced to wear headscarves. It would be hard to find anyone in İstanbul who would disagree with me, at least in public,” Mrs. Gul was quoted as saying.
Gul’s interview was published yesterday in Times2, The Times’ main supplement, which features various lifestyle columns.
The headscarf issue is a topic of fierce debate in Turkey, where wearing the Islamic headscarf is banned in the public sphere.
Its use at universities was prohibited in the late 1990s through an earlier ruling by the Constitutional Court on the grounds that it would violate the nation’s secular principles, as the headscarf was seen as a political and religious symbol.
It was stressed in the Times2 article that the headscarf, worn by a considerable portion of Turkish women, means more in Turkey than in any other country.
“It has become the most potent symbol of a battle for the soul of the country that will determine its place in Europe and the Islamic world,” the article stated.
The article also recalled a closure case filed against Turkey’s ruling party.
“Despite the solid parliamentary majority that enabled her husband [Abdullah Gul] to become president, the country’s Constitutional Court is determined to press ahead with a case intended to outlaw the ruling Justice and Development Party [AK Party] and ban its leading members from politics,” it said.
A top prosecutor requested in March that Turkey’s Constitutional Court close the governing AK Party and place a ban on political party involvement for 71 of its high-level officials, including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Gul, who was an AK Party member before becoming president and severing political ties as required by the Constitution.
It was also expressed in the article that Western governments must see this case for what it is — an attempted judicial coup.
“It has scant legal basis. If successful it would derail Turkey’s already fraught EU accession and lead many AK Party supporters to despair of the ballot box,” the article read.
vahid said,
July 23, 2008 @ 11:22 am
The allegations by the first lady seemed quite different, at least to me, as the case was to maintain unveiling enforcement, or she was not referring to that. However, her statement “It would be hard to find anyone in İstanbul who would disagree with me, at least in public,” is true.
Nizar said,
September 17, 2008 @ 11:10 pm
I wonder what Merve kavakchi is doing now. Wherever is she…