Turkey in the 21st century: The Legacy Of Mrs Ataturk

Eighty years ago, a bestselling new biography reveals, Turkey's first lady, Latife Ataturk, helped liberate her countrywomen by urging them to cast off their veils. But as her key role in the secularisation of Turkey comes to light, the headscarf is once again stirring passionate debate in Anatolia. Pelin Turgut reports from Istanbul

Published:ï¿½01 July 2006

Deep in the heart of Istanbul's bustling business capital, emerging from the crowd of sharply-dressed female executives, Emine Erdogan, the wife of Turkey's Prime Minister, takes centre stage. Quietly poised and softly spoken, she talks eloquently and passionately to her audience about the need to encourage more young girls to attend school. It is an issue she has made her own.

But there is something strikingly different about this particular champion of women's rights. Dressed in a smart beige suit, with a skirt that reaches to her ankles, Mrs Erdogan's earnest face is framed by a matching cream-coloured headscarf. The thrust of her talk is that Turkey's strict ban on headscarves in schools violates gender equality because it means families keep their daughters at home rather than educate them.

Article Length: 1524 words (approx.)