The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) supports every effort to solve the headscarf issue in the Constitution, the party’s Chairperson Devlet Bahçeli said on Tuesday.
Speaking in the party’s parliamentary group meeting in the capital Ankara, Bahçeli said his party welcomed the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) officials’ visit to the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) on the constitutional amendment proposal regarding the headscarf. “The visit is such a natural and right step,” he said.
“The HDP is no different from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP),” Bahçeli stated and highlighted that the MHP backs any efforts for the democratic solution to the headscarf issue.
“Let’s either discuss it (the headscarf amendment) in Parliament and reach a conclusion or solve this situation with the referendum,” he added.
Bahçeli, however, added that the MHP’s approach to the HDP, a political party known for its links with the designated terrorist organization, the PKK, has not changed, saying: “I don’t even need to repeat what we think about the HDP.”
In previous days, an AK Party delegation led by Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ visited the parliamentary groups of political parties to consult with them on the planned constitutional amendment on the right to wear headscarves.
Within this scope, the AK Party visited its political ally the MHP and the opposition bloc’s leading parties, the CHP and the Good Party (IP), as well as the HDP.
The headscarf was once a source of deep discord in Türkiye – its once-powerful secular establishment saw it as a threat to the secular order. But the question ceased to stir controversy after reforms by the AK Party during its 20 years in power.
However, the secularist CHP, a party having long opposed the wearing of headscarves in Parliament and public offices, revived the issue last month with a proposal to enshrine the right with legislation, in an attempt to attract support from conservative voters.
Instead of a bill, the AK Party sought to make constitutional amendments to guarantee the right to wear headscarves once and for all. Raising the stakes, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said the amendment would also encompass measures to protect the family.
