Etiket wigs

Iva Hromkova A recent decree by the Board of High Education (YOK) relaxed the ban on headscarf wearing women students to attend classes at the universities. While the ban was still in force, students were circumventing it by wearing wigs to enter classes in order to obey what they termed as the prerequisite of their Islamic faith and continue their studies at the same time. To find out how the YOK decree would affect the wig sellers we visited several shops lining the main street running from Taksim to Sishane and interviewed headscarf wearing students on the campus. Murat Ozdemir, 29, owner of a store with a large selection of wigs near Taksim was confident that the YOK decree would not have a notable effect on his sales. “Most women come to buy wigs at the beginning of the school year. I don’t think some law would change this habit anytime soon,” he said. The wig business is really not as big as one would expect, he pointed out. Selling special wigs called “tesettur peruk”, according to Ozdemir, is just a small part of the artificial hair business. Headscarf wearing women students confirmed Ozdemir’s comments. “If we are not allowed to wear our hijab (headscarf) at a particular school, we just choose another one. We don’t want to wear wigs,” said a student at Bilgi campus. “We have never worn a wig and we even don’t know anybody who does,” she added. The headscarf ban still remains in government offices for employees. Economic crisis is more effective Another wig seller, Kasim Celik, 34, declared that the economic crisis is more effective in his sales than the relaxation of the headscarf ban for university students. “If the headscarves are allowed, women will not need wigs anymore. But they may decide to […]