AK Party Deputy to Attend Parliament with Headscarf

The ruling Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) Konya deputy, lawyer Gülay Samancı, who has decided to wear a headscarf after performing the Hajj (pilgrimage) in Mecca this year, stated on Saturday that she will attend Parliament with the headscarf.

Samancı's decision came after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced last month that the headscarf ban for most public-sector workers would be removed.

“I have completed my Hajj duty and returned to Turkey wearing a headscarf. From now on, I will continue my life in this way. Turkey has taken enormous steps in accepting the people with their differences and respecting their lifestyle and thoughts. Thus, I don't believe that there is any problem with people accepting each other for wearing the things they want according to their beliefs or choices,” Samancı said, adding that no one has the right to discriminate against others based on their religion, beliefs, gender, race or thoughts. 

Recently, rumors had already been circulating that some female deputies who traveled to Saudi Arabia this month to perform the Hajj may return to Parliament wearing their headscarves.

After the announcement of the democratization package, Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek said that there is currently no legal ban of the Islamic headscarf in Parliament's bylaws, which he said do not mention the religious practice of women covering their hair.

Çiçek's remarks drew criticism from the main opposition Republican People's Party's (CHP) Malik Ecder Özdemir, who asked, “Why did the Merve Kavakçı crisis take place, then?”

Merve Kavakçı, who was Turkey's first covered deputy, was forced out of Parliament during her swearing-in ceremony for wearing a headscarf. She had been elected to Parliament in the general elections in 1999.