No more freedom of persecution

First of all, let me tell why I care about this particular issue so much. It's increasingly becoming a defining issue for tolerance and understanding of Islam, not only in Turkey but also in the West. And I believe in the absence of a just resolution of the question, neither can the West fully embrace Turkey, nor can Turkey fulfill integration with the West.

In no proper democracy one can justify the state denying education to university students just because of the way they look. But in the Turkish case, which rightly or wrongly most people in the West see as the most advanced secular democracy in a Muslim-majority nation, a female citizen cannot go to a public or private university if she is wearing a religious headscarf. Yet one finds proponents of this clear human rights abuse persuading many people in the West that those girls, not their oppressors, pose a threat to the country's modernization project.

Obviously, there are plenty of Westerners with a strong anti-Islam bias who really do not need much persuasion from the secularists in Turkey. They often work hand in hand with the Muslim Islamophobes. The main appeal should be to the open-minded people who don't know much about either Islam or Turkey, particularly in the post-Sept. 11 era.

Now, let's have a look how headscarf banners try to confuse Westerners. They do not openly say they can't stand the sight of religious-looking females in the public sphere. That would be considered an outright discrimination, which is generally not acceptable in the West. Instead they bring up the claim that secularism is in danger. Secularism is indeed a vital principle that must be sustained. But what does that have to be with blocking religious girls from college campuses where they can educate themselves and mingle with others, which would help them refrain from religious fundamentalism?

Among the anti-headscarf arguments, probably most disturbing of all is the following: If allowed, those girls with headscarves would pressure their peers who do not choose such a lifestyle. Can you imagine how a university girl could pressure another fellow student? Unless at gunpoint, who gives in to such attempts? Furthermore, are religious girls stupid enough to even think of such actions with huge legal and social implications? No scientific survey so far suggests the headscarf is a major conflict within the university population.

Some people call for enacting hate crime laws to protect people with liberal lifestyles from religious circles. Fine, but with only one condition; hateful behavior against religious people should also be penalized. I'm curious to see to what extent some secularists in Turkey want to give up their "freedom" to insult religious ladies. I know for a fact that many girls with religious headscarves are verbally and sometimes physically attacked by ultra-secularist ladies in the most Westernized (!) parts of the country.

Proponents of the ban may say: "Even if those girls are allowed with their headscarf in the universities, most of them will marry conservative husbands, stay at home and raise kids when they graduate. So they don't need to go to college anyway." First of all, even if some of the girls choose to do so, isn't it in the public interest when we have highly educated wives and mothers? In fact, granted a good job opportunity, most female university graduates in Turkey, including the ones with headscarves, would prefer to pursue a professional career. However, the unemployment epidemic affects the entire Turkish female workforce. An extra hurdle for the religious female jobseekers is the fact that they are automatically disqualified for most government jobs which require them to choose between headscarf and salary.  

There are so many myths communicated to the West to prove right the headscarf ban and its mantra. Since most of those poor girls come from relatively underprivileged families, they usually do not have the linguistic, financial and social means to make their case to the outside world. Their critics, on the other hand, are often very well connected. Our friends in the West should realize many people who oppose the headscarf at universities in the name of securing secular freedoms actually seek to preserve their own freedom of persecution.