Headscarved lawmakers set to enter Turkish Parliament

ANKARA

Gülay Samancı is expected to enter the Parliament after performing the Hajj. AA photo

The Turkish Parliament will either experience déjà vu with tension similar to the Merve Kavakçı incident, or will mark a milestone by allowing women wearing headscarves to enter, with more than one female deputy having announced that they will be wearing headscarves when they come to Parliament this week. The outcome will depend on the reaction of the opposition parties, particularly the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).

Sevde Bayazıt Kaçar, Kahramanmaraş deputy for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), and Gülay Samancı, the AKP’s Konya deputy, delivered separate statements over the weekend, making clear that they would soon be coming to General Assembly meetings at Parliament wearing headscarves. Speaking to daily Sabah’s website on Oct. 26, Kaçar even gave an exact date, saying she would come to Parliament wearing a headscarf on Oct. 31.

Both Kaçar and Samancı are among female deputies of the AKP who recently performed the annual Hajj.

A debate on whether Parliament’s regulations allow for deputies to wear headscarves was sparked after the government’s abolition of a headscarf ban for female public servants as part of the recently announced “democratization package.”