Tuesday, February 19, 2008

In Turkey, is tension about religion? Class rivalry? Or both? - International Herald Tribune

"In Turkey, is tension about religion? Class rivalry? Or both?

ISTANBUL — When two women in Islamic head scarves were spotted in an Italian restaurant in this city's posh new shopping mall this month, Gulbin Simitcioglu did a double take.

Covered women, long seen as backward peasants from the countryside, "have started to be everywhere," said Simitcioglu, a sales clerk in an Italian clothing store, and it is making women like her more than a little uncomfortable. "We are Turkey's image. They are ruining it.""

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