THE HEADSCARF QUESTION IN TURKEY: THE EXAMPLES OF THE AKP AND THE CHP

This study aims to analyze how the main political parties in Turkey, the AKP (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, The Justice and Development Party) and the CHP (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, The Republican People’s Party), approach the headscarf issue, what kinds of openings, if any, these parties have adopted recently, and to what extent politicians adopt their party’s approach. The field research for this study rests on three pillars. The first of these is made up of party documents, that is to say programs, statutes and internal publications. The main publications of the parties are Türkiye Bülteni (Turkey’s Bulletin) for the AKP and Halk (The People) for the CHP. As the second pillar of the research, two dailies, one from the center right (Yeni Şafak The New Dawn) and the other from the center left (Cumhuriyet The Republic), have been chosen. The third component of the research is made up of interviews with at least one man and one woman from every level of hierarchy in each of these parties (i.e. main office administration, youth branches’ administration and women’s branches’ administration at the district, provincial and national Bu makale Crosscheck sistemi tarafından taranmış ve bu sistem sonuçlarına göre orijinal bir makale olduğu tespit edilmiştir.