CHP Deputy Chair Veli Ağbaba said bringing the religious and ethnic identities of officials who provide security and justice to the fore would only increase division within society. A year later, high school students were also allowed to wear hijab.
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Turkey will allow women police officers to wear Islamic headscarves while on duty, provided that they match the uniform, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported Saturday.
Police forces around the world have been making similar accommodations for female Muslim officers – earlier this week, both Canada and Scotland updated their uniform standards to include hijabs.
Back in 2013, then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan introduced the lifting of headscarf bans in Turkey’s civil service as part of a broader democratization package. Judges and soldiers still can’t wear headscarves to work.
Earlier this month, police in Scotland allowed women to wear the headscarf while on duty, following a lead set by their counterparts in the United Kingdom capital, London, over a decade ago.
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But the country’s pro-government media have noted that several Western nations have relaxed restrictions over wearing headscarves.
