Ertugrul Ozkok: Ins and outs of the "turban problem"

Something missing from Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's talk on Wednesday to the AKP group may have caught your attention. The Prime Minister didn't mention the "turban question," which has been the hottest topic of the last four days. Don't you think this is strange? A meeting of his party's group would have been the most appropriate setting to make a reply to the Constitutional Court's President, Mustafa Burmin, and to CHP, which supports him. But Erdogan didn't say a word about it. ****I looked into this matter. When the Prime Minister was preparing his speech, he consulted with his aides as well as many important members of his party. The resulting general opinion was that he shouldn't even touch on the "turban question." In this sense, the speech he made to his party members can be interpreted as a party decision. I think the Prime Minister has made the right decision. On top of that, he has used his "right to silence" on a subject on which he could have defended himself with ease. Politics is not just a forum for things which are said and done. Sometimes it is the things which are not said or done which are the most instrumental.These days, it is the "unsaid" and the "undone" which are the most effective politics on the "turban question." The politicians who are not speaking or acting on this subject are the ones who are doing the greatest service to their country. ****I don't know how many times I have written about this.But let's all recognize this fact:There is no "turban problem" in Turkey today.For most of Turkish society, there problem of "should turbaned (covered) students be allowed to go to university or not" does not exist. But you can be sure of this: If the government tries one day in the future to bring the "turban question" to a referendum, there's more than a 50% chance that the "turban ban" would be lifted. * * *How do I come to this conclusion? Very simple. In the vote, who will back the campaign that says "let the ban not be lifted"?AKP? DYP? MHP? ANAP? Or let me put it this way:Is there a party other than CHP or DYP that would campaign for the ban to stay in place?If you are curious about what the outcome would be, just take a look at the polls taken guessing what the outcome would be in such a vote. Ask the same people in a poll whether "secularism should be continued or discontinued" and you will get the same results. With a wide majority, people would reply that the "a secular government should remain in place." These results show that in the minds of the people, there is no "turban problem." But we need to see this clearly: Turkey should not try to solve the "turban problem" through a referendum. Because the arguments coming out of the road to the referendum would be much more destructive than any results from the referendum. * * *For that reason, the elements most neccessary to reaching a consensus on the issue are silence and time.First there has to be an atmosphere of trust, and then we can argue. The point we must be able to reach at the end of the arguments is this: Turban wearing must be forbidden in primary and middle schools, and allowed in universities. The turban must not be permitted for women working in the Parliament and government offices. There is no referendum necessary for such a solution, which we can all come to easily if we think about it. Â