ANKARA (Reuters)
More women have started wearing headscarves in Turkey during the past four years, according to a poll published on Monday.
The survey by the Konda polling agency, published in the Milliyet newspaper, showed 69 percent of Turkish women now wore some type of headscarf, up from 64 percent in 2003.
Of that number, 16 percent completely conceal their hair with the so-called 'turban', seen in Turkey as an Islamist symbol, up from just 3.5 percent four years ago, the poll showed.
The largest number of women wearing the Islamic 'turban' was found in the age range of 18 to 28 years, where it stands at nearly 20 percent, the poll found.
Many other women in Turkey wear headscarves as traditional custom, especially in rural areas, but not necessarily for religious or ideological reasons.
Overall, more educated women were less likely to cover up.
The Islamist-rooted centre-right AK Party, in power since November 2002, wants to ease a strict ban on the headscarf in universities and public offices in Turkey, but faces stiff resistance from the secular elite, including army generals and university rectors.
Opinion polls have also shown a majority of Turks favor lifting the headscarf ban in universities and also believe it is fine for the president's wife to cover up.
The wives of President Abdullah Gul, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and other top AK Party officials all wear the 'turban', much to the distaste of the secularists, who see the garment as a direct threat to Turkey's separation of state and religion.
The secularists tried earlier this year to stop Gul becoming president because of his Islamist past and his wife's headscarf.
The Konda poll canvassed the views of 5,289 men and women in 41 provinces across Turkey on Sept. 8-9. |
