Kavakci triumphs in hijab battle after 15 years

For the first time in Turkey’s political history, 21 female deputies took parliamentary oaths while wearing headscarves.

Eighteen of these deputies were elected from the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) lists, while three others were elected from Peoples’ Democracy Party (HDP).

Ravza Kavakçı Kan, Justice and Development Party’s Istanbul deputy, took her parliamentary oath while wearing the very same headscarf that her older sister Merve Kavakçı was wearing when she was prevented from taking her oath in 1999.

Merve Kavakci tried to take her oath wearing a headscarf. The then prime minister Bulent Ecevit told MPs to “put this woman in her place”. Kavakci left while some of her colleagues chanted “get out”.

Kavakci lost her seat in 2001, after a political lynching campaign.

The ban on wearing headscarves for public employees was lifted in October 2013, with the exception of military, police and judiciary.