With the official lifting of the headscarf ban in Turkey after the announcement of the ‘democratisation package’ on September 30, headscarved Turkish women are now able to work for the government without having to remove their covering. Turkey’s Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Naci Koru has said that this has opened the way for headscarved women to apply for working as diplomats. Although there have so far been no reported cases of female staff for the Foreign Ministry opting to wear the headscarf, there is no longer any obstacles preventing headscarved women from applying for positions or employed women from adopting the headscarf. They may even work their way up to becoming ambassadors to other countries, although estimates predict it would take at least 20 years before this becomes a reality.
Following the announcement of the package, four female ministers became the first women to enter the Turkish parliament wearing their headscarves since elected minister Merve Kavakci was expelled from the parliament and Turkish citizenship in 1999 after turning up to parliament in a headscarf.