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But what compels Turkish women to choose not to wear a headscarf in public? Almost 6 in 10
respondents (59%) say they do not believe wearing a headscarf is a religious obligation, and about
1 in 10 (11%) say they do not like the look of a headscarf. Fewer than 10% of respondents
mention other associations such as to obey a male relative, the headscarf is old-fashioned, or to be
seen as an equal as reasons why they do not wear a headscarf.
With its unique blend of national secular legacy and individual religious importance, Turkey
provides a complex, but crucial example through which the headscarf associations can be
analyzed. The poll findings show that of Turks surveyed most associate wearing a headscarf with
being religious (66%). Also, almost 4 in 10 Turks mention freedom (38%) and oppression (26%)
as being associated with wearing a headscarf. However, just 14% of Turks mention fanaticism and
12% of Turks mention backwardness as being associated with wearing a headscarf; two
associations critics often use to portray the headscarf as a threat to a secular and modern society.
Looking toward the future, Omer Taspinar, professor of national security strategy at the U.S.
National War College and a Fellow at the Brookings Institution writes in the November/December
issue of Foreign Affairs that “the success of Turkey’s experiment in synthesizing Islam,
secularism, and liberal democracy would be a rebuke to the ‘clash of civilizations’ argument.”