Parliament begins discussions on headscarf bill

ANKARA

A parliamentary panel has begun deliberations over the headscarf bill amid ongoing disagreements between the government and the opposition parties.

The Turkish parliament’s Constitutional Commission completed the first round of the talks late Jan. 19 with the plan to continue deliberations on Jan. 24.

“We can only resolve this problem by providing a constitutional guarantee. We have to accept this. This is nothing to worry about. We are not seeking a privilege due to our faith. We are not a minority. We, women wearing the headscarf, are one of the fundamental parts of this society,” Leyla Şahin Usta, Konya Deputy from the ranks of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), said during the meeting.

Some still reject the presence of women who wear the headscarf in public and private spaces, Şahin said. “We want that new generations not to suffer from the things we suffered in the past.”

The constitutional package liberates the use of the headscarf in public and private spaces and protects the structure of the family by clarifying that marriage can only take place between a man and a woman.

The AKP and its ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), lack at least 25 votes to have the package to be taken to the referendum and 65 votes to legislate it at the parliament without going to the referendum.

The opposition claims that the AKP and the MHP are trying to exploit the headscarf issue for domestic political purposes on the eve of the elections. The İYİ (Good Party) has criticized the AKP’s wording of the bill and proposed its own constitutional amendment package.

“This is a political play. You are not sincere,” İYİ Party’s Bursa Deputy Ahmet Kamil Erozan said, criticizing the ruling party during the meeting. “Your aim is to introduce a third ballot box on May 14 [for the headscarf referendum]. You have no other priority,” he stated.