Wish you a happy new year

I hope so. I wish all of you, whether you like me or not, whether you praise or criticize me, a healthy and happy new year.

The year 2008 will in the future be labeled "the start of headscarf combat" by historians. This principle, characterized as the ideology of the Turkish Republic, has been challenged.

As the AKP unexpectedly and surprisingly based for different reasons received 47 percent of the votes during elections in July 2007 and entered Parliament with a smooth majority, the attitude of the leaders of the party changed rapidly especially in the headscarf issue.

Erdoğan, for the first time, accepted the headscarf as a political symbol and did not expect to encounter such resistance when he started the campaign. More than the leading staff of his 47 percent majority party the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, the prime minister’s mind was occupied with "not to miss this opportunity." According to him, the liberation of the headscarf in universities meant it would take a burden off his chest. The symbolic meaning of the liberation of the headscarf in universities was very important to the AKP, but whatever happened, it happened during the constitutional changes regarding the headscarf.

The AKP was alarmed when it took the Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, into its service regarding the headscarf. According to some, Erdoğan stepped into the MHP’s trap, but the problem arose during negotiations for the planned constitutional changes. Especially when there was no sentence added to the paragraph regarding the change saying "this only applies to universities," the secular portion of society to revolted. The AKP took such a stance that it seemed like the headscarf would be liberated in all governmental offices after it had been liberated in universities. Whereas a sentence such as mentioned above would have put secularists at ease and AKP’s step wouldn’t have been perceived as a threat. But no, the prime minister did not want to obligate himself. He chose to ignore the secularist’s expectation that the headscarf will not be liberated in official departments. He had an attitude as if saying "I received the votes of half the people. I will not bow in front of the secularists who are a minority."

Headscarf lost the first combat
The secularist portion seriously got worried. The AKP scared and startled the secularists in an unnecessary way.

An incredible opposition was formed and this secular opposition used all options at hand. In a psychological state of "being in a tight corner" these people bent the law and interpreted it differently. This wasn’t enough; they filed a lawsuit for closing the AKP. The burden of a historical decision, usually to be handled among the political parties in Parliament, was laid on the 11 judges of the Constitutional Court, just to escape the majority of the AKP. These 11 judges were under immense pressure.

You know the result.

The 11 judges made prudent decisions.

On June 5, 2008, nine out of 11 members voted for the cancellation of the constitutional changes regarding the headscarf.

The lawsuit regarding the closing of the AKP was dismissed July 30, 2008, because the requested number, seven, of votes was not achieved. This way Turkey was saved from a big chaos. On the contrary, the first of the headscarf combat resulted in a defeat for the AKP. The justification of the Constitutional Court was so strict that from now on it made it impossible to engage in a new attempt. The case of liberating the headscarf in universities has been closed once and for all. The Constitutional Court, in agreement with the decision by the European Court of Human Rights, has taken away the political symbol of a portion of society.

The combat is lost; can the headscarf win the battle?
The combat has been lost, but is this case closed? Or will, in the future, the headscarf win the ultimate battle?

I think that’s quite possible.

There were a few institutions that accepted the headscarf as a political symbol and perceived it as a threat to the secular system and headed all attempts to prevent it.

University rectors É The Office of the Board of Higher Education, or YÖK, the Constitutional Court and Çankaya É

Some of these four institutions have changed anyway. The rest will change within 10 years. The majority of the university rectors are candidates that are in favor of the liberation for the headscarf who will ease the application.

YÖK, with the change of its president last year, is not a castle of secularists anymore. Similarly, as opposed to former times, the Presidency at Çankaya, takes an attitude in favor of the headscarf. There is only the Constitutional Court left, which within at most 10 years will change from within and those who don’t see the headscarf as a threat to the secular system will be the majority.

The headscarf may have lost the combat this year, but looking at the balance likely to change, we could easily say that it will win the battle.

In case the AKP wins two more elections, it can easily build an environment for the liberation of the headscarf in universities and official places. Weapons in the hand of the secular portion of society are not that strong anymore. So what’s left to do, is to get well organized in political sense and gather around a party that is likely to obtain the administration, which seems difficult at the moment.