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E-mail a friendYOUNG VOICES
Live from Turkey
Reporting live, I can share a bit why Turkish society surprised itself today by electing Abdullah Gul, a politically religious man, to be President of the Republic. When I decided to come to Turkey, I had no idea that I would be here during the inauguration of a new president, the first openly religious president of secular Turkey.
The thing to remember about Turkey is that its Muslim politics is like the opposite of many other Muslim polities. Here, they take the separation of church and state so seriously; that having an openly religious president whose wife wears the Muslim headscarf is a huge political shift that sparked mass protests.
So instead of governments forcing women to wear the veil, in Turkey, it is considered illegal for women to wear the veil in public schools and government buildings. In Turkey today, the courts say that the women's headscarf is unconstitutional if worn in a public school. There is therefore a huge education attainment gap between women who cover their heads at puberty and women who do not.
While in Istanbul last week, catching up with a Turkish friend, we overheard heated conversation about whether women should be allowed to wear the veil at public universities.
One side of the table said that it was dangerous to allow the headscarf into university life. Some university students fear that veiled classmates would be spreading an extreme Islamist political agenda.
On the other side of the table were Turkish students who felt that choosing to wear the veil was a matter of free speech. They suggested that the Turkish secularism system was taken too far by keeping religious women locked out of educational opportunities.
No matter what side of the table you are on, the election of President Abdullah Gul represents a major pro-democracy change in Turkish politics. The people of Turkey turned out in droves to out-vote the traditional and military elite, and voted instead to reward the AKP party, which seeks to integrate Turkey with Europe, while pleasing its Islamic religious base.