Baykal's talk and performance at the meeting dumbfounded many, especially among the rank and file of the CHP, because he had, at least since 2002, been one of the most ardent advocates of an authoritarian form of secularism that would deny covered women access to higher education and the right to be elected to Parliament. Baykal had zealously opposed the then-Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül's election to the presidency because his wife covers her head. He had cautioned Parliament of the risk of military intervention if Gül were to be elected and wholeheartedly supported the military's "e-memorandum," i.e., the statement against Gül's election placed on the chief of general staff's Web site. He petitioned the Constitutional Court over constitutional amendments that lifted the headscarf ban at universities and secured their repeal.Baykal responded to the criticism at a parliamentary group meeting attended by many women with headscarves, saying: "Our sensitivities have not changed. Accepting covered women to the party does not violate the party's positions. … Those women wearing chadors who have joined the CHP are not like others. They do not want their daughters to cover themselves, and cover themselves innocently." He further said: "We are not holding a costume ball here. … This debate will hopefully produce a true, democratic understanding of secularism instead of the repressive, exclusivist, even fascist-like understanding of secularism." The party's İstanbul chief, Gürsel Tekin, indicated by the media as the architect of the new policy, signaled an even further opening up of the party to religiously conservative voters by declaring: "Many members of religious communities are looking for harbors to seek shelter in. Why not the CHP?"
All of this has, indeed, shocked many. Some CHP party members and deputies have accused the party leadership of turning its back on secularism and of simply imitating the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in pursuit of votes in the upcoming local elections in March. For others, however, Baykal's new initiative was not surprising in the least. In the course of nearly all his election campaigns, he has come out with unexpected policy initiatives. Prior to the 1999 parliamentary elections, for example, he had promised cultural rights for the Kurds. Prior to the 2002 parliamentary elections, he declared the CHP's understanding of "the left" would not conflict with Anatolian (meaning traditional) values. In the parliamentary elections of 2007, the CHP tried to appeal to covered female voters by distributing headscarves at party meetings, and placing pictures of covered women on party posters.
It surely is a futile effort to try to find any coherence in Baykal's policies over the years, which have during recent years increasingly assumed positions closer to that of the CHP in the authoritarian single-party period back in the 1920s and 1930s. In line with that 1930s mentality that Baykal had in the days leading up to the 2004 local elections, he declared that "the CHP is not a market party like others. … We say what we believe in. We would be happy if people like what we say and vote for us. But if they do not, we still respect their judgment." It looks like Baykal has reversed himself even on that position and now regards the CHP as a "market party" like the others which care about getting votes.
That political parties adopt policies to meet the demands and preferences of broader segments of society is surely a sign that democracy is working in Turkey. What, however, is worrisome about democracy in Turkey is that the dishonesty and incoherence many of them display has led to the collapse of trust in politicians. One of the reasons for the non-consolidation of democracy in Turkey may well be the lack of the credibility of most politicians.
Still, the new position of the CHP on women's attire has raised hopes for a solution to the headscarf problem, which has caused so much conflict and, indeed, suffering. This is surely why Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has given his full support to the CHP leader, and even advised him not to bow to opposition he is facing, saying: "If this position endures, believe me, many of the problems of this country can soon be solved. … Politics requires coherence. I have to say this openly and clearly: Politics requires honesty and sticking to the same position in the long run."
It is only hoped that Erdoğan himself takes his own advice and does not backtrack from the reforms he has advocated and promised to put into force.
