Singer in headscarf challenges secularism

A contestant in a Turkish television talent show causes controversy by insisting on performing in her hijab.

ISTANBUL // She wanted to become famous for having a beautiful voice. But although Cigdem Ozdemir has indeed managed to shoot to nationwide fame in Turkey, it is not because of her singing, but because of her choice of clothing. Mrs Ozdemir, 27, is the first contender in a televised talent show in Turkey to wear the Islamic headscarf, and her appearance in the show Popstar Alaturka has triggered a fresh debate about the role of the Islamic headgear in Turkish society. Ever since Mrs Ozdemir took the stage in the first episode of the weekly talent show on the private channel Fox in late August, she has been the subject of discussions inside and outside the studio where the live show is being produced. "Can a headscarved woman be a pop star?" the Vatan newspaper asked after Mrs Ozdemir's latest appearance on Friday. No one seriously doubts that Mrs Ozdemir is a good singer. She won high marks from the jury in the show, which is made up of well-known singers, actors and show business personalities. Viewers have also supported her candidacy by sending text message votes to Fox. But the fact that she wears a headscarf has members of the jury and the public wondering if she belongs. "I don't think someone wearing the headscarf can be a pop star," producer Armagan Caglayan, a member of the Popstar jury, said during last Friday's show. As an example for what he meant, Mr Caglayan referred to Ajda Pekkan, a prominent Turkish singer, who despite her 60 years still had "beautiful legs" - the kind of quality he said a pop star had to have. "There are some values that make a pop star. Maybe they can change, but right now it is like this." Mrs Ozdemir answered that she respected Mr Caglayan's views, but added that,"I think of this as a vocal competition". At that point in the show, a woman in the audience got up from her seat and shouted: "That's how pop stars look in Arabia. Their pop stars wear the headscarf!" Turkey, a secular republic with an overwhelmingly Muslim population, bans the Islamic headscarf in public institutions like parliament and universities. Last year, a push by the religiously conservative government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, to open universities for students wearing the veil was struck down by the constitutional court and nearly led to the banning of Mr Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, for engaging in anti-secular activities. Mr Erdogan's government has overseen the rise of a religiously conservative middle class in Anatolia that has started to challenge the position of the secular elites. Although the number of women covering their hair has remained more or less stable, between 60 per cent and 70 per cent according to opinion polls, headscarves have become much more visible in everyday life as women from conservative backgrounds have started to turn up in high-end shopping malls and posh cafes. With Mr Erdogan's wife, Emine, and the wife of President Abdullah Gul, Hayrunnissa, headscarved women have become visible at the highest level of the state. At the same time, the headscarf is no longer absent in the media. There have been several television announcers who wear the veil, and Turkey's state television channel TRT, a former bulwark of secularism that critics say is being changed into a religiously conservative institution, recently employed a female correspondent wearing a headscarf, according to media reports. And now, with Mrs Ozdemir, the headscarf has finally entered the world of Turkish show business and popular culture. The moment she stepped onto the stage in an aubergine outfit with matching headscarf to sing a love song, it was clear that the traditional conversation between a candidate and the jury after a performance would be more than typical chit chat. An employee at a private hospital in Bursa in north-western Turkey, Mrs Ozdemir told the jury that she has been performing since she was a child, sometimes in local tea houses. But Mr Caglayan confronted her with a question about her possible nationwide career. "Will you also sing in restaurants that serve alcohol?" he asked. She said she would not, but hoped to make money by selling recordings. Mrs Ozdemir's biggest supporter in the jury has been Bulent Ersoy, a flamboyant transsexual singer who is well known for her outspokenness and was charged with anti-military statements after she criticised Turkey's foray into northern Iraq to fight Kurdish separatists during a Popstar show last year. "You have shown that people wearing the headscarf can sing," Ms Ersoy told the candidate, giving her the highest mark of 10 points. In last week's show, Ms Ersoy announced that she also would be wearing a headscarf in the next episode this Friday. [e-mail]