Who would object to the CHP solving the headscarf problem, and why?

The speeches party leaders give in the squares on election tours can trigger unexpected changes in the parties' discourse and policies. Some steps that were not calculated at all at the outset can suddenly become party policy through the uttering of a sentence that somehow comes to a leader's mind in the squares. This sentence can sometimes arise from the need to respond to a banner in the square. In the squares it is not only the leaders who speak; the people too speak, and make the leaders speak, through the enthusiasm they give and their lively reactions. That is why rally speeches never take place as a one-sided address (a monologue); they take place as a dialogue. This is a very healthy situation for a politics that listens well to the pulse of the people and is open to the people's steering, rather than a politician of the "what I said, I said" type. That is why elections in general, and the dialogues in the squares in particular, are opportunities that smooth the rough edges of parties and re-establish the supply-demand balance between their voters and their policies.

Even so, it can be said that Kılıçdaroğlu is more open to dialogue in the election squares than necessary. His responding to every banner unfurled, his making a series of promises on every slogan shouted, gives the impression that he is very open to this dialogue. But I fear that even this remains only an impression, because when one is this open to banners and slogans, the reactions one gives to the voice coming from the square increasingly cease to be serious.

In the rush to produce an answer to every slogan and banner, so many promises and so many words are uttered that it does not occur to anyone to consider the relationship of these words and promises to one another, their feasibility, or their continuity and consistency with the party's own policy. One day he accuses the Prime Minister of meeting Öcalan, the next day he can talk about a general amnesty, the day after that he explains that there is no harm in the state meeting Öcalan, and the day after that he explains that the general amnesty does not cover Öcalan. Forgetting that the process we are in is not an election but a referendum, we are not even going into his dives into the problems of hazelnut and apricot producers. Every day Kılıçdaroğlu has a promise from the square he speaks in that will set the agenda. The extravagance of these promises, and the fact that none of them is forgotten before its expiry, also erodes the meaning of his own discourse more and more. He is increasingly becoming a leader whose words are hard to take seriously.

It is perfectly normal to find it hard to take seriously what he says on the headscarf, since he says it on this scale. In fact, what would be normal within the dialectic of the square is for a CHP that has truly listened to the people to sense how beneficial it would be for itself to be rid of some of its obsessions concentrated on the headscarf. Moreover, since it has been announced that a group headed by Prof. Sencer Ayata is making preparations on this, it is not one of those "what is said in the square stays in the square" subjects either.

The CHP's beginning to question its policy on the headscarf so far must absolutely not be taken lightly. This is the proof that the CHP has remembered that politics cannot be done without the people. If it follows a correct policy on the headscarf, it can make up for its past losses to some extent.

Women who wear the headscarf are, as Elisabeth Özdalga clearly shows in one of her studies, the people in society whose individuality is realized at the highest level, beyond what is supposed. Because of the social loss and exclusion they take on when covering their heads, they can increasingly be left alone with their tense individual worlds. The experience they go through in this process carries them to an incredible level of individuality. That is why, I can advise that, now that it has taken up the headscarf issue, the CHP members above all be ready, since the headscarf-wearing women themselves, without being influenced by anyone, will measure and evaluate the sincerity of the CHP best.

However, Kılıçdaroğlu will need to show more than an approach of the "we'll take care of it" type for the solution of the headscarf problem. How will he alone solve a problem that would already have been solved if his own party did not stand in the way? In fact he does not need to do much; it is enough for him to stop being an obstacle on the path to a solution.

A CHP that, after all that has happened, has thought of going to the scholars to learn whether the headscarf has a place in religion is at the very beginning of the matter in this process, and this is not a wrong choice for these "people who are just beginning to solve the headscarf problem." This part of the matter should truly have been settled "for beginners." What makes the matter odd is probably that so much distance has been covered in Turkey on this issue, both in terms of the problem's political context and its academic accumulation. The CHP's appearing as if unaware of all these stages, and moreover as if it had forgotten its role in the locking of the problem, produces an effect of meaninglessness in politics. Otherwise, who would object to the CHP's aspiring to solve the headscarf problem, and why?

THE ALEVIS' VOTE IS NOT IN ANYONE'S SACK

After the program we did with Dr. Necdet Subaşı, coordinator of the Alevi workshops, on "Halkın Kararı" broadcast on TVNET on Friday, we received many e-mails and phone calls, mostly from Alevi circles. Some Alevi association representatives' declaring views on behalf of all Alevis in the referendum angered many Alevis, and they declared their reaction against being approached as tribes with no individuality of their own. One of the most meaningful reactions came from Yalçın Özdemir, general editor-in-chief of SU TV, which these days is organizing Freedom to Democracy Concerts with the participation of artists such as Seher Dilovan, Rojin, Kardeş Türküler, Mustafa Tatlıtürk and Aynur Güneş to contribute to the referendum process. Mr. Yalçın reminded that the referendum has created a historic opportunity to say stop to fascism, and that they too, as an Alevi group, are making every effort to seize this opportunity by saying "yes."

The program of the Freedom to Democracy concerts from here on

30 August Adana Hayal Park 20:00, _31 August Hatay Cumhuriyet Square 20:00, _1 September Mersin 20:00, _2 September Ankara 20:00, _3 Eylülk Çorum Abide Junction 20:00_4 September Tokat Hükümet Square 20:00,_5 September Erzincan 20:00,_6 September Diyarbakır 20:00