In that incident, Mrs. Erdoğan was not permitted to go to the hospital on the grounds that she wears a headscarf. The issue, which had not been revealed earlier, was mentioned by Erdoğan last weekend while he was speaking to the editors-in-chief of some newspapers on a TV program. Uygur’s wife confirmed that Emine Erdoğan was denied entry by hospital officials because she wears a headscarf. Covering the issue in their columns, analysts drew different conclusions from this case.Zaman’s Mustafa Ünal says he wonders how Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ felt when he heard Erdoğan’s complaint about his wife being denied entry to GATA. “Did he say, ‘Well done, boys, what you have done is correct,’ or did he think the military’s actions were excessive regarding the headscarf issue?” asks Ünal, while noting that it would not be right to blame Başbuğ for this incident because it did not take place during his term as military chief. Yet Ünal says this does not mean that this incident would not be repeated again today. “There is no softening in the attitude of the military toward the headscarf. Covered mothers are still forced to watch their sons’ swearing-in ceremonies from behind fences as they are denied access to military facilities,” explains Ünal. Calling on Başbuğ to feel some empathy for Erdoğan, Ünal asks Başbuğ how he would feel if his wife were denied entry to a public building because she does not cover her head. “Perhaps he would only then understand how hurtful the incident is, so much so that he would even attempt to stage a coup,” says Ünal.
Suggesting a way to make amends for the rudeness Mrs. Erdoğan suffered, Ünal says she could be invited to GATA today, three years after the incident.
Hürriyet’s Ahmet Hakan talks about the GATA incident in light of recent claims suggesting that Turkey is heading toward civilian fascism under the rule of Erdoğan’s government. Dismissing such claims, Hakan says: “If the wife of a country’s prime minister cannot enter a building that is under his authority, it would be a real luxury to talk about the existence of civilian dictatorship, single-man rule and authoritarian government in that country. If the prime minister of a country has to overlook injustice and rudeness toward his wife, talking about the existence of civilian fascism in that country would be total nonsense,” contends Hakan.
Complaining about many such discriminatory attitudes toward covered women in Turkey, which have been presented as normal, Bugün’s Ahmet Taşgetiren finds it to be a positive development that Turkey has come to a point in time when discrimination against covered women is found to be “inappropriate.” In his view, the disclosure of some shady military plans has played a role in the change of attitude toward covered women.
