The Turkish Constitutional Court, laicism and the headscarf issue

ÖZTIĞ L. İ.

THIRD WORLD QUARTERLY, cilt.39, sa.3, ss.594-608, 2018 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 39 Sayı: 3
  • Basım Tarihi: 2018
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1080/01436597.2017.1396536
  • Dergi Adı: THIRD WORLD QUARTERLY
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.594-608
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Turkey, the headscarf issue, laicism, religious freedom, SECULARISM, RELIGION, SOCIETY, TURKEY, POLITICS
  • Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

From 1989 onwards, the Turkish Constitutional Court justified the headscarf ban in universities by citing laicism. Interestingly, in 2014, the Court found the headscarf ban in courts unconstitutional and revoked it by again citing laicism as the main reason. How can this seemingly paradoxical practice be explained? This article traces the trajectory of the headscarf issue in Turkey by analysing and contextualising the Constitutional Court decisions. In order to explain how and why the Constitutional Court issued two opposing views of the headscarf ban, this article focuses on the changing political climate and legal developments that took place in Turkey between 2008 and 2014.