Ataturk
Posted on 02/09/2008 7:29:19 PM PST by jdm
**EXCERPT**
ISTANBUL, Feb. 9 Turkey's parliament voted Saturday to end a more than 80-year-old ban on women wearing head scarves at universities, acknowledging the rising influence of conservative Islam in the most determinedly secular republic of the Muslim world.
Tens of thousands of secular Turks marched in the capital, Ankara, against lifting the ban. Many brandished portraits of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who founded modern Turkey in 1923 with the goal of making it a Westernized, secular republic.
"Turkey is secular and will remain secular," the protesters chanted, swinging poles bearing the red flag of the Turkish republic.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Head scarves or no head scarves, the Turks are still the Eastern Barbarians!
Ataturk
Bush’s fault
The lifting of the ban means they can now wear their head rags.
Must be a lot of really ugly Turkish women.
How do you figure this is good news? They lifted an 80 year old BAN on head scarfs, bowing to Islamic “conservatives.” I don’t see this as good news.
The first slip down the slope or the first of many lies.
The first slip down the slope or the first of many lies.
Looks like Turkey is heading further down the tubes.
The road to hell always begins with a first step.
I think it's called irony.
Now on to all with the reason I typed and clicked:
Crucially, Turkey's military made no immediate objection to the result. Turks long have regarded generals as the guardians of [Turkey's constitutional republic] . . ."The military has no choice -- it must accept this result."
The EU has condemned the military for "interfering" and demanded an end to it as a condition of EU membership. If followed what will be the result? Will the Army be needed?
The AKP has ended the appearance of widespread corruption in government and improved the economy. This is from another W-P article: "'All the parties steal in Turkey, and I'm sure the AK Party will steal, too. I know that, but at least they're dealing with the people,' said Ergun Yalkanat, a 36-year-old factory worker. 'They've managed to extend their hands to the people's conscience.'"
Also, the AKP has managed to develop a "reputation that steers between the extremes of religion and nationalism, project an image of relative effectiveness and style itself as an underdog vying with the establishment." It won a majority in parliament last summer.
It was interesting how the head covering will be restricted:
[AKP] officials have promised to interpret the measure as allowing only head scarves that are tied under the chin, a style seen as traditionally Turkish rather than Islamic. The party says it will not allow women to wear more rigidly Islamic attire -- veils that cover all of the hair and neck or the face, or cloaks that cover the body -- in public offices.
I have no idea how this will all turn out but I'd put my bet on the Kemalist; however I do remember when the AKP first came to power. It was in 2003 at the time of our entry into Iraq. The AKP acting leader was Abdullah Gul while arrangements were being made to qualify the real leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan had been banned years ago as an Islamist.
Despite the chaos the AKP darn near got parliamentary approval for our troops using Turkish territory, if I remember correctly. It was the established parties that objected -- and 80 percent of the public objected, also.
That is, will the Army be needed to counter Islamists? Or, is the AKP what it purports to be and no internal threat to the Republic will ever surface again?
In that neighborhood of the world, of course you need an army++.
Obviously, you have not been to Turkey.
Bless her heart, she’s missing her scarf. Won’t she be beaten and terrified into submission by the social police?
Nope and don’t intend to. I don’t like scarves on my head.
You don’t have to wear a head-scarf in Turkey, except in a Mosque. Before this change in the law, it was UNLAWFUL for a woman to wear a head-scarf at a public university. So you can go to Turkey uncovered.
There's no law that requires women to cover themselves in Turkey. (I even went in with my hair uncovered into a mosque) In fact, there's laws banning women from wearing head coverings in schools and government offices. (Laws that would never be allowed in the U.S. ironically)
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