Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday proposed holding a referendum to establish a constitutional guarantee of the right to wear the headscarf in state institutions, schools and universities.
Addressing the leader of the main opposition party Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who proposed a law to guarantee the right to wear the headscarf, Erdogan said in a televised speech, "If you have the courage, come, let's submit it to a referendum...Let the nation decide."
The debate over wearing the headscarf has recently heated up in Turkey ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for 2023.
Turkey, which has enshrined secularism in its constitution, has long banned the headscarf in state institutions, schools and universities, as well as in places such as parliament and army buildings.
Erdogan's government lifted restrictions on headscarves in 2013.
But unlike the 1990s, when the subject sparked intense debate, no political movement is currently proposing to ban it in Turkey.
Even Kilgdaroglu, head of the Republican People's Party, said at the beginning of October, "We have made mistakes in the past about the headscarf. It is time to move beyond this question and for politicians to stop addressing it."
According to observers, the opposition leader wanted to reassure conservative voters who traditionally vote for Erdogan's Justice and Development Party.
Faced with this attempt to attract conservative votes, the Turkish president responded at the beginning of the month by calling on his opponent to include this right in the constitution.
"Is there a distinction between veiled and non-veiled women today in public office? In schools? No, we succeeded in that," Erdogan asked Saturday.
"We will soon send a constitutional amendment to Parliament... but if the matter is not resolved in Parliament, we will present it to the people," he added.