Will Turkey's secularists be forced to lighten up on headscarves?

Posted By Joshua Keating Thursday, May 7, 2009 - 11:03 AM Share

Eurasianet profiles Gürsel Tekin an up-and-coming Istanbul politician from the once-dominant secularist CHP party, which has, in recent years, suffered a string of defeats at the hands of the more pro-Islamic AKP. Tekin sees Turkey's secularists fading into obscurity unless they continue their traditional anti-Islamic hard line:

What strengthened Tekin’s policy of door-to-door canvassing immeasurably was the perception that he is more relaxed about Islam than many of his CHP colleagues. Tekin denies being out of synch with the party and insists that secularism is the one principle CHP will never relinquish.
Yet, while the CHP played a leading role in blocking government efforts to end a ban on headscarves in universities in 2008 year, he supports an end to the ban. And while some CHP supporters see the headscarf, worn by roughly two-thirds of Turkish women, as a symbol of a medieval mentality threatening Turkey, Tekin insists "the vast majority of Turks have no problem with secularism."
"If a woman with a headscarf comes and says I want to join the party, what do you say? ’Come in.’ It’s as simple as that," he says. "A party that fears the people of its country has no future."

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