Turkey's military shun reception with first lady

By Alexandra Hudson

ISTANBUL | Sat Oct 30, 2010 1:14am IST

(Reuters) - Turkey's staunchly secularist military shunned the President's Republic Day reception on Friday night, attended for the first time by his headscarf-wearing wife, in a snub to the country's pious rulers.

In the past President Abdullah Gul had given two separate parties, pandering to secularist sensitivities by conducting the higher-profile evening affair without his spouse, but this year he held just one event, which she co-hosted.

The military held a separate party, Turkish media reported, demonstrating the lingering divide between the secularist old guard and the rising class of conservative Muslims, epitomised by Gul and Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.

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Headscarf debate in Turkey: No one has to worry

By Kai Strittmatter, Istanbul 

Turks are fed up with the fight over headscarf. Now President Gül invites for the first time the military representatives and prominent women with head scarves to a common official reception- a historic confrontation.  

Two out of the three women in Turkey wear head scarves, while this country, compared to all other European countries, has for decades the strictest ban on headscarf. Gradually, however, this is getting less strict- and almost nobody is getting upset about it. On this Friday, the anniversary of the foundation of the republic, Turkey overcomes another battle in headscarf dispute. President Gül invites the military leaders and prominent women with head scarves, among whom is his wife Hayrünnisa Gül, to the traditional reception. 

Read More from Süddeutsche in German