MEPs condemn latest ‘headscarf incident’
Cem Özdemir and Joost Lagendijk, the first members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to speak of the headscarf issue in European Union documents, have offered their opinions on an incident in which a girl was forced to leave the stage of her high school while waiting to receive a prize because she was wearing a headscarf.

Tevhide Kütük was in tears after she was forced to step down due to her headscarf.

Schoolgirl Tevhide Kütük was forced to step down from the stage of her high school after a military commander and the governor of the province shouted that she be removed, apparently due to her wearing a headscarf.

While German Greens MEP Özdemir said the reaction was a mistake, Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Committee Co-Chairman Lagendijk stated that he had no sympathy for such actions.

Stressing that there was no problem whatsoever among people on the headscarf issue, Özdemir said: “As in most cases, when the state intervenes, a non-issue becomes an issue. The headscarf was not a problem among the people until the state started to handle it.” Özdemir underlined that it was not possible to condone the governor and the military commander’s reaction to Tevhide. “If the objective is to fight fundamentalism, the state is doing the exact opposite. By these sorts of reactions, they actually help feed and strengthen fundamentalism” he said.

Though Lagendijk was categorically against the governor and commander’s reaction, he was more confused about how he himself should react. “I have no sympathy for this ruthless action but at the same time it is a difficult issue for me to judge. I always supported the right of girls to go to universities with headscarves but for minors going to schools with headscarves, I have a slight problem,” he said. Lagendijk stated that forcing Tevhide from the stage was absolutely the wrong way to deal with the issue, however he was concerned about whether or not those minors were forced to wear headscarves by their parents.

Özdemir and Lagendijk proposed an amendment dealing with the headscarf problem to Camiel Eurlings’ report on Turkey. Despite objections from the Christian Democrats, the amendment was accepted, making it the first time in EU history the headscarf problem was mentioned. Both the European Parliament and the European Commission have consistently dealt with religious freedom in Turkey, but insistently turned a blind eye to the problems the Sunni majority faces in respect to religious freedom.

Student in tears

On Nov. 24, during a program organized in the Kozan district of Adana to commemorate Teachers’ Day, 16-year-old Tevhide from Kozan’s imam hatip school (a vocational religious educational establishment) was forced leave the stage in tears, while waiting to receive a prize. The student, wearing a headscarf, had been waiting to receive a prize for her composition, “It Must Be Such a Teacher,” when the religious city’s director of education, Mutlu Canbolat, removed her from the stage. Canbolat acted upon the cries of “Get that off the stage!” from Garrison Commander Maj. Hüseyin Çopur and Kozan Governor Aydın Tetikoğlu. In tears, Tevhide asked Canbolat why he was pulling her off the stage. The entire audience, consisting of teachers and students and their families, joined Tevhide and left the hall immediately. The Turkish Folk Music Ensemble then performed to an empty house.

01.12.2007
SELÇUK GÜLTAŞLI BRUSSELS

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