In Islahiye county of the southeastern province Gaziantep, a woman with a headscarf is the mayor now, but she's got a problem with AKP.
Malika Uludag, the candidate of Democrat Party (DP), has won the elections on Sunday. She got 36 percent of the votes.
The previous mayor was Mehmet Uludag, the husband of Malika Uludag. His party didn't nominate him again, so he wanted to enter the election race as a DP candidate. However, after approving his membership, DP authorities couldn't nominate him, because his name was still in the shortlist of AKP. So he turned over his nomination to his wife.
So here comes where you say that it is "only in Turkey..."
After the election results, AKP has reportedly appealed to the Election Commission, argueing that the DP Mayor Malika Uludag wears a headscarf and it is against the secular principles of the state. This Islamist party, which once went on the rampage for the right of women to wear headscarves on the public space, is now alleging that those laws are totally just.
I sincerely congratulate Malika Uludag, so that I can show that I oppose the well-known hypocrisy of the Islamist AKP, not the religious expression of some of our citizens.
