Lıve From Istanbul
By Matt Zeitlin - Jul 18th, 2008 at 10:03 amDespite alleged attempted coups and the prospect of the very popular ruling party being declared illegal, Turkey, and specifically Istanbul, is a wonderful place to visit. I would say that as far as sites of pure touristic interest (mosques, palaces, bridges, views, ruins) go, it is right up there with Rome or Paris, and that it is kilometers ahead of those cities in terms of vibrancy and dynamism. It’s also culturally much more interesting than other European capitals. Some of this is, admittedly, is because I find it so exotic; for around one billion people in the world, a Muslim country is nothing out of the ordinary, but for me it certainly is.
Turkey, of course, isn’t your average Muslim country. It is the most aggressively secular, and has traditionally been extremely wary of displays of Islam in the public sphere: Islamic parties have been forced to disband; religious politicians have been forced out of office; the military proactively upholds secularism; and women aren’t allowed to wear headscarves in schools, while men are discouraged from wearing beards.
Although most men are cleanly shaven and wear Western clothing, women run the gamut. Some are totally indistinguishable for the most stylishly dressed Southern Europeans, while others wear chadors, niqaabs, and abayas that one would see in Iran or the Arab world. But in Turkey, these more complete and conservative coverings are rare. The most interesting outfits involve simple head scarves; it is not at all uncommon to see young women wearing lots of make up, smartly designed blouses and pants, cool sneakers, designer hand bags, and head scarves that cover all of their hair.
But these aren’t the same head scarves one would see older, more conservative women from outside of Istanbul wearing. They are usually colorful, with all sorts of cool designs that often match or coordinate with the rest of the outfit. My friends who live here tells me that many of these young women are not just wearing the head scarf for traditional reasons, but also to show support for the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Prime Minister, Recep Tayiip Erdogan.
AKP is moderately Islamist in orientation and has run into conflict with the hard-core secularists in the military and political elite. Erdogan was even imprisoned in 1998 for his Islamist leanings. The issue of head scarves is especially tricky with the ruling party and prime minister; since the 1920s, the government has discouraged them, and the fact that Erdogan’s wife chooses to don one has been an endless source of controversy.
Turkey’s uneasy secular balancing act greatly complicates the rather simplistic view many have of the scarf. Instead of being a sign of patriarchal tradition and religiously motivated control of women, it is being used here as an assertion of identity and agency in a public sphere that has been forcibly trying to exclude the political and moral views of many of its citizens.
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