AKP objects to headscarf

Hurriyet Daily News with wires

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The strange twist began when the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP’s, popular Islahiye Mayor Mehmet Uludağ was not chosen by the party to run for another term in Sunday’s election.

Uludağ switched to the Democrat Party, or DP, but the local election board objected to him running because he had already applied via the AKP. He eventually persuaded his wife, Malike Uludağ, to run instead as the DP candidate.

The local AKP branch objected to Malike Uludağ because she usually wears a headscarf but the local election board rejected the objection because Malike Uludağ’s head was not covered in her application photo.

Daily Star columnist Şamil Tayyar, who is originally from Islahiye, congratulated his hometown in his column yesterday. He said Mehmet Uludağ was ignored by the AKP in favor of the local party chief Osman Öztürk despite the fact that the incumbent mayor was popular among the people. Speaking to the Doğan news agency, Mehmet Uludağ said his wife would abide by the laws of the Republic. "If the mayor appoints me, I will continue to serve the public as the deputy mayor," he said. When asked about reports that the AKP had objected to the local election board about his wife’s headscarf, he said, "I learned it was a verbal inquiry that did not amount to anything because on my wife’s application photo she was not wearing a headscarf." In Sunday’s election, Malike Uludağ won 36.9 percent of the votes, with the AKP candidate finishing third.