Turkey, the headscarf and the secular state

Konya - women in scarves 2, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

Turkey has just this week elected Mr Abdullah Gul as its new President and today he approved of a new Cabinet which is said to unite Islamist and secular politicians.

His wife insists on wearing teh headscarf, which is banned in most governemnet institutions and she has also fought for the rights of Islamists in Turkey. Mr Gul himself used to be a member of a banned Islamist party. There are fears that he could turn Turkey away from secularism.

However, he seems to be a bright man with modern ideas, who wants to take Turkey into Europe and he was elected through democratic free and fair elections.

Let's hope, for Turkey's sake, that he keeps his promise and keeps his country fully secular.