Efforts to present the brides' preferences as if they were the choice of the families and the grooms have not gone unnoticed. These two examples signify that “secularists” more than religious people are obsessed with the headscarf issue.
For a very long time, we have been saying that the tension between those who wear headscarves and those who don't is aggravated by a certain minority. There are a countless number of families whose members have different preferences and yet live together in peace. The same goes for universities. There are many examples of students with different preferences hanging out with each other. But a certain group of people is persistently inciting groundless fears.
They argue that women who wear headscarves will put pressure on women who do not. But there is no evidence as to why women who get along off campus will get into fights with each other on campus. Sciences such as sociology and psychology also discredit these kinds of groundless prophecies. The fear of conflict is just an excuse. Their aim is probably not to prevent conflict but instead to encourage the victimized segment of society to raise its voice in order to legitimize their “conflict” thesis. As for the victims, they are doing what's appropriate and siding with social peace, thereby causing continued irritation for the crisis lobby.
Let's continue to address the issue of Arınç's case. Some people are trying to present him as the most “uncompromising” person in the Justice and Development Party (AK Party). Yet everyone concedes that while he never makes any concessions when it comes to the struggle for his principles, Arınç is a very courteous person when it comes to human relations. His respect toward his future daughter-in-law's choice to not wear a headscarf serves as an answer to many of the accusations made against him. What happened to the lie that women wear headscarves only to be able to get married? Or to the claim that men force women to wear it?
Let's ask these questions: Can you imagine the possibility of former president Ahmet Necdet Sezer's or Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal's daughter-in-law wearing a headscarf? Or if Ertuğrul Özkök's daughter Gülümsün decided to wear a headscarf, could they act as maturely as “pro-Islamic” women who don't wear it?
These examples seem impossible, don't they? We don't have the opportunity to test these views right now, but we can conduct different tests. For example, a short search of the archives will reveal the style in which national volleyball player Aysun Özbek's decision to wear a headscarf was reported on and by whom.
There is even a much simpler test. Companies identified as religious or conservative don't interfere in their workers' preferences in clothing. In fact, sometimes the number of women who don't wear headscarves can be higher because the companies look at their experience and skills. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the other wing. Not wearing a headscarf is almost a precondition for being hired. If we exclude support services such as cleaning and cooking, there is almost no one who works wearing a headscarf. There are striking examples of experienced and successful women who got fired because they somehow decided they wanted to wear headscarves. I am not giving any specific names because I don't want those who have been subject to such cruel behavior to encounter new trauma. However, upon request, the names of the educated and successful women who have been forced to stop working and the names of the institutions which they worked for can be released.
There is nothing to be said to those who undermine the issue by asking tabloid-like questions such as, “Who then are women wearing headscarves going to marry?”
We must give Arınç the credit he's due. He is at a much more advanced level than those who criticize him in the name of democracy and secularism. If we want social peace, then we have the right to expect everyone to act as maturely as Arınç and respect everyone the way they are and respect their preferences.
The day the Sezers and Baykals actually assimilate the pluralistic democratic stance is the day the problem will be solved from its root.
