Authorities in northern Cyprus have passed a new law that allows the wearing of the so-called headscarf or Islamic veil (türban, in Turkish) in high schools and opens the door to its being allowed in middle schools that authorise it, which has sparked intense debate among Turkish Cypriot politicians and even protests on the streets from the more strictly secular sectors of society.
The origin of this measure goes back to last March, when a female middle school student wanted to attend class at her school in Lefkoşa (Nicosia) wearing the Islamic headscarf, but the school administration refused her entry on the basis of the dress code.
In response, the Council of Ministers of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC, for its acronym in Turkish) modified the dress code for educational centres, allowing the head to be covered with a scarf, which immediately sparked bitter criticism from teachers’ unions and the most secularist opposition parties.
In response to this reaction, the Turkish Cypriot government set up a special committee specifically dedicated to debating this issue and establishing a consensus on student dress, inviting representatives of the opposition and teachers’ unions to join it. However, both refused to participate, so on 8 April the Council of Ministers ratified a final version of the new dress code in northern Cypriot schools modified by the committee, which, according to Turkish media reports, has come into force after being published in the Official Gazette.
Protests from the secularist opposition
The new regulations state that the wearing of the Islamic veil or headscarf is permitted in all cases in Turkish Cypriot high schools, while its use in middle schools is subject to the individual authorisation of the administration of each school. However, students who wish to wear the headscarf must do so in such a way that it does not cover their school uniform or extend beyond the neck, in order to preserve the visual integrity of the dress standards in educational centres.
The entry into force of the new regulation has sparked protests in the capital of northern Cyprus, where some 13, 000 people marched through the streets of Lefkoşa denouncing that the new regulations allowing the use of the Islamic headscarf in education represents an ‘existential threat’ to secularism in the KKTC, in a demonstration organised by some 40 leftist organisations and parties of Turkish Cyprus, including the Republican Turkish Party (CTP), the main opposition party.
The president of Northern Cyprus, the conservative Ersin Tatar, for his part, defends that the use of the Islamic veil or headscarf in schools is a personal choice based on respect for individual freedom, and emphasised that no student should be marginalised because of how they dress.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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