"Turkey’s conservative modernity
By Vincent Boland
Published: July 16 2007 19:37 | Last updated: July 16 2007 19:37
Aged 18, Gamze Cakir and Esra Ertas will be first-time voters in Turkey’s general election on Sunday. Yet each has already made one of the most important decisions of her adult life.
Ms Cakir lives in a village called Kahramanlar in the east of the country, a region where subsistence farming and traditional social customs shape daily life. She has decided that, unlike her mother and sister, she will not wear the Muslim headscarf. Ms Ertas lives 1,400km away in Izmir, a laid-back city on the Aegean coast full of good restaurants and palm-lined streets. She has decided that she will wear it, probably after she finishes her fashion studies."
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