From the traditional female i̇mage of the headscarved woman to the experience of public space

This thesis aims to examine the "headscarved woman", one of the controversial aspects of the Turkish modernization movement, to participate in the public sphere. In line with this purpose of the study, the experiences in the period between the last Ottoman period, when the first modernization movements began, until the 2000s were divided into periods and analyzed. As a result of the investigations, it was seen that the demands of headscarved women to exist in the public sphere were not only against the secular bloc but also against devout and even Islamist men. There have been many discussions and conflicts on this issue. The secular bloc wanted to keep the headscarved woman out of the public sphere on the grounds that it threatens the modern social structure. Religious men, on the other hand, cited traditional roles (mother and woman as wife) as the most appropriate for the nature of a Muslim woman. The "second generation covered women", who came up against the secular bloc with the protests against the headscarf bans in the 1980s, came face to face with the men of Islamist politics in the 1990s. The second generation of veiled women, who progressed in the reactionary attitude of the Islamist movement in the 1980s, emerged from the "control" of Islamist men in the 1990s and created a more civic discourse. The traditional roles offered by Islamist men were addressed with critical questioning; It has been emphasized that these roles stem from patriarchal traditions, not Islam. Women who rejected these roles without hesitating to criticize Islamist men, moved away from social concerns such as "notification" and "cause" and started to think more about themselves. As a matter of fact, the establishment of many platforms and the organization of conferences and seminars in order to discuss the problems encountered in the private and public spheres is an important indicator of this transformation