The EU members of the Turkey-European Union Joint Consultative Committee, comprising members of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), an EU consultative assembly representing the voices of interest groups including trade unions and employer organizations, chose not to discuss the violations of women’s rights in Turkey imposed by the headscarf ban when questioned on the issue at a panel discussion.
EESC members Sandy Boyle, Jan Olsson and Anna Bredima were the speakers at a panel discussion organized by the Women Entrepreneurs Association of Turkey (KAGİDER) on the theme of gender equality in the country. Boyle, Olsson and Bredima are also members of the joint consultative committee currently working on a report on the same topic, the first draft of which will be ready in April. They reiterated the political approach of the EU to the widely denounced practice of not allowing headscarved students into universities in Turkey and said the country should resolve the matter internally.
The headscarf ban has not been criticized in any of the annual progress reports prepared by the European Commission assessing Turkey’s bid to join the 27-nation bloc. While the religious freedoms of the majority Muslim population have been ignored, the same reports have allotted large amounts of space to dictating the terms of religious freedoms for minorities in the country.
Female students in Turkey are currently not allowed to enter universities while wearing headscarves. A constitutional amendment annulling that controversial ban was overturned by the Constitutional Court in 2008
Asked by Today’s Zaman during the discussion if they were concerned about the headscarf ban in Turkey depriving thousands of women of their right to education, Boyle, who is also the co-chair of the joint consultative committee, said Turkey should resolve this issue on its own. ‘‘I don’t think it’s proper for us to interfere here and dictate a position over such a sensitive matter in Turkey. For me, it’s an internal problem and should be resolved internally,” Boyle stressed. Bredima, however, expressed the opinion that she personally attached more importance to people’s ideas than their appearance. ‘‘I think what they have in their heads is more important than if they cover their heads or not,” she said. Olsson did not touch upon the matter though the question was directed to all three speakers on the panel.
