Turkey:  Scarf banned? Wear a wig

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2.02

(image: Gülcin looks through foto-album)

Gülcin Sert was just five years old when her sister died. And though her death was hard to bear, it fired Gulcin towards a career path in medicine: a way to reconnect with the sister she had lost.  

2.19

Gülcin Sert

I used to share everything with her. We were like two halves of an apple. But one half left. I felt so empty. I wanted to study and become a doctor. I saw it as my duty towards her.

2.41

(image: Gülcin puts on coat, leaves home)

She dreamt of becoming a paediatrician, so that she could help children, just like her sister. And she enrolled in a university to study medicine. Yet it’s then that a simple headscarf brought her dream of being a doctor to a halt.

3.05

Gülcin Sert

 The first two months were fine. Then they said: “We don’t want headscarves here. You have to put it off. You put it off and always wear make up when you come here”.

3.19

(image: headscarfed students go through security and put their scarfs off)

This small piece of Islamic women’s clothing became the subject of international attention when a call to ban the burqa in Europe made headlines. Yet outside of Europe, this debate has been raging for centuries. Turkish authorities have banned civil servants and students from wearing the headscarf: a policy upheld by strict security checks

3.35

Nilüfer Narli, professor sociology

Turkey is a country where 99% of the population is Muslim. In such a country permitting the headscarf could create group pressure. A group who is wearing the headscarf could put pressure on other girls to also cover themselves.

3.55

Sound up:

-Come friends.

3.58

(image: protesting students)

Whilst teachers are adamant that the ban has reduced the isolation of non-Muslim students, the vast majority want the ban to end.  So students fight for it, and sometimes win.

4.08

Sound up: applause

4.10

Rumeysa was one of the protesting students here in Istanbul two years ago. She explains why her headscarf is so important to her.

4.17

Rümeysa Camdereli, student

It is really like being naked. Because it is just part of my clothes and someone is trying to take it off.

4.28

As a result of the protests, the rules were relaxed at the liberal Open University where Rumeysa studies. Rümeysa can now wear her headscarf. But the policy in Turkey remains the same. And students at more traditional universities, continue to battle for their right to wear headscarves.

4.43

Rümeysa Camdereli, student

It is really not a good feeling because you feel like you betray the others, because they don’t have the chance to go into the schools with their headscarves on. And I have friends from other universities and when we talk, we say that: “You have to challenge them and you must say that we will go to university with our headscarf on”. But they say you can’t understand us, because you don’t face this.

5.14

(sound up of claxon car)

5.16

(wigs in a wig shop)

As a result, many young Muslim girls resort to covering their headscarf with wigs. For them, it’s the only way to be both faithful and educated. 

5.36

Yüksel Bilir, employee wig shop

Most of the time they buy a wig of synthetic hair, because a wearing a wig from real hair is also seen as a sin.

5.44

(Gülcin puts on wig in front of mirror)

Gülcin also buys a wig. Because, although she desperately wants to study medicine, going without her headscarf makes her feel naked and ashamed. Soon enough her professors order her to take her wig off: ‘Doctors also have to show their hair under Turkish law, so you should get used to it now’. Gülcin couldn’t do it. But all of her friends gave in.

6.08

Gülcin Sert

They have gone up in their career. Of course I want to be like them. But it did not happen. They took a different decision. They put their headscarves off and finished their studies.  I did not take it off. But I hope a new law will come, so that I can go back.

6.40

Until that time Gülcin is an assistant in a pharmacy, rather than the doctor she so wanted to be.

6.48

Gülcin Sert

I feel regret. Sometimes I just don’t know if I did the right thing or not.

 (She closes the photo-album)

7.00

End of tape