Roman Holiday

[robinturner]

The debate about legalising headscarves in universities which is tearing Turkey apart these days is not without its lighter moments. I've just found out that the style of headscarf most popular amongst Turkish fundamentalists was originally inspired by Audrey Hepburn. No kidding - I saw an interview with the woman who started the whole thing way back when headscarves were so unusual amongst educated urban Turks that people would ask her if she was an Arab.



In other silly news, I hear that Rabia Kazan, former fiancee of Mehmet Ali Ağca (the guy who shot the pope), has once again created a stir, this time by marrying an Italian Communist. He's also described as a Christian in the media, but this may be on the assumption that all Italians must be Catholics (even if they're members of the Communist Party). Anyway, apparently he's converted to Islam, so even if he was a dialectical materialist, he's now a Muslim dialectical materialist.



She still looks a bit uncomfortable about being kissed by the groom, though.

Comments

[solri.livejournal.com]

There's always been a kind of hair fetish in the Middle East - Saint Paul had it too, I think.

Incidentally, the Koran is rather vague on the subject. One of the verses that is widely quoted in arguments that women should cover their hair (and even in some cases, their faces) actually says that they should cover either (a) their breasts or (b) their jewelry (depending on how you translate a certain word in classical Arabic that I can't remember). The other states that men should cover themselves from the navel to the knee and women should cover everything apart from the face, hands and feet, but there it is not clear whether this is a general rule or only one to be observed while praying. (Even my wife, who is a fire-breathing secularist, covers her hair when she's in a mosque.)

[yetibuddy.livejournal.com]

It's surprising how strong the reaction is to the idea of allowing the wearing of headscarves is! There is a real fear that this will lead to the erosion of secularism. It's interesting to be in this country and seeing how the debate unfolds.

[solri.livejournal.com]

It's interesting not least because it exemplifies one of the classic problems of democracy: how can you make sure that when people are given freedom, they don't use it to restrict their own and others' freedom? The secular establishment seem to take the view of Rousseau that we should "force people to be free," and some of them go so far as to say in private that if it takes another military coup to do it, then so be it. The AKP argument is that people should be free to follow the dictates of their religion (not free to wear what they want, since I don't see them arguing in favour of public nudity, or even reforming the law to allow civil servants to turn up to work wearing jeans). But of course they only mean the dictates of their religion - I don't see anyone arguing that Jews should not be required to work on Saturdays, or Satanists should be allowed to sacrifice virgins.