Oktay Eksi: The 'turban' question is not the real matter at hand

"There are rules in universities. The Supreme and Constitutional courts have made their decisions. But if a female in Turkey decided she absolutely must study with a headscarf, there are other places she can go. You could go to Saudi Arabia, for example, and study there! Turkey will never give up on secularity. Everyone needs to gather their wits on this subject. If there are those who think that they can exploit religion and pull everyone behind them, just because this country is 99% Muslim, they are wrong. Very wrong. The Republic has brought forward 5 generations so far, and the current generation must take charge of the Republic. The "turban" does not represent freedom, but backwardness. The AKP cannot solve the "turban" problem. They cannot, because the Constitutional Court has already made a decision regarding it. There is also a decision from the European Court of Human Rights. But, alright, let's take a look at the Constitution, for example. What would you change? Let's see the AKP change it! And when you do try to change it, let's see how much support you really get! There are other forces at work in Turkey....."
 
As a result of these words by Demirel, the AKP responded with statements outside the normal rules of political courtesy. The person who went the furthest in terms of responding was AKP leader Tayyip Erdogan. He made a comparison between Demirel, a person who served for many years as both the Prime Minister and the President of the country, and "Recai Cingoz," a cunning, thief-like character from a series of Turkish detective novels. He said to Demirel:
 
"Where do you get the right to tell someone 'go to Saudi Arabia'? Who gave you this authority?...."
 
But what Erdogan wasn't able to respond with was something like "This is how we are going to solve the problem Demirel has touched on....."
 
The interesting aspect to this all now is that Suleyman Demirel, who we criticized for years as not standing in enough defense of the secular republic, has now become an active defender of the system. Now that he no longer has any connection to votes or elections. What this shows is that a person becomes much more free to speak his mind when political benefits are removed from the picture.
 
And now, to come to the heart of the argument: The real matter is the clash between two mentalities who co-exist in the AKP. The clashing mentalities are the one which has accepted the basic principles of the secular republic, and the one which only looks as though it has embodied these principles, but is actually at war with them. If only Tayyip Erdogan would tell someone, "The Tayyip Erdogan of pre-AKP times is not the same one who is running today's Turkey," there would be great relief all around.