Arguments about the place of the turban in public spaces in Turkey are heating up as Gul’s presidency becomes a certainty. When Mrs. Hayrunnisa Gul becomes Turkey’s First Lady, the turban will ascend to the presidential palace, the highest of all public places, despite the many decisions by Turkey’s high courts and the European Court of Human Rights recognizing it as symbol of political Islam and justifying its exclusion from official public places in accordance with the secular nature of the country.

Abdullah Gul defends his wife’s turban as an item of clothing that she chooses to wear, and asks everyone to respect her individual freedom.

Source: Hurriyet, August 17, 2007