The protest was met with indignation from rights organizations, which condemned the CHP’s intolerance of religious attire.On Wednesday afternoon, a group of CHP members met in Mersin to commemorate the 86th anniversary of the abolishment of the Islamic Caliphate. Among them were Havva Ongunsel, the head of the CHP women’s branches, and the CHP provincial chairman in Mersin, Yılmaz Şanlı. The group vowed to protect the principles of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic.
The gathering suddenly turned into an anti-chador campaign when female participants took black chadors out of their purses and started to tear them into pieces. The chador is used both as traditional and religious attire in Anatolia.
In November 2008, CHP leader Deniz Baykal surprised everyone when he gave a woman wearing a chador a CHP badge. Baykal later accepted several chador-wearing women into the party’s ranks. The move, however, sparked discussions over the party’s credibility in light of its respect for religious clothing, with many interpreting the move as an attempt to win back the hearts of conservative voters ahead of the March 29, 2009, local elections.
The main opposition party had appealed a constitutional amendment package that would have lifted the ban on wearing headscarves on university campuses in 2008. The CHP believes that the use of the headscarf in the public sphere would damage secularism.
On Thursday, intra-party disciplinary action was launched against participants in the controversial protest. Ongunsel resigned on Friday In the face of growing criticism.
