Wearing a headscarf is banned in public institutions in Turkey, and Turkey's military, which sees itself as the guardian of the secular regime, regards the headscarf as a threat to the secular order. According to a report prepared on Oct. 14, 2007 and obtained by Taraf, if President Gül and his spouse plan to visit a military hospital or rehabilitation center, members of the military are asked to remind them that those wearing religiously conservative attire are not allowed to enter those facilities.
“Those wearing outdated attire can be accepted only under extreme extenuating circumstances. If they are allowed to enter, a protocol official with the lowest rank should accompany them,” the report says. If President Gül and his wife would like to stop at a military facility en route to their destination, the military assistant to the president is asked to intervene and propose the president stop at another place.
The largest section of the report is allocated to Oct. 29 Republic Day receptions, which are held in the Çankaya presidential palace and governors' offices. Garrison commanders are asked to participate in these receptions without the accompaniment of their wives and stay there for a very short while. This action should be explained to the public diplomatically, says the report.
A crisis emerged at the first Republic Day celebration following Gül's election due to generals' reluctance to participate in the reception. In order to overcome the crisis, Gül held two separate receptions, one for the parliament speaker, prime minister, chief of general staff, members of the high judiciary, political party leaders, deputies and senior bureaucrats without the accompaniment of their spouses and the other for businessmen, artists, journalists and representatives of nongovernmental organizations with the accompaniment of their spouses.
