Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has abolished a ban preventing female civil servants from wearing headscarves and male civil servants from growing beards in the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), Turkish media reports said on Friday.
The government amended the sixth article of a regulation in the civil servant dress code which went into effect in 1982 to abolish the headscarf and beard bans among TSK civil servants.
As of Nov. 11, female civil servants in the TSK will be able to wear headscarves while male civil servants will be able to grow beards. The revised regulation concerns 30,000 civil servants working for the armed services.
Civil Servants Labor Union President Serdar Dursun praised the abolishment of the headscarf and beard ban for TSK civil servants in remarks to Turkish media outlets on Friday.
“It was impossible to enjoy some freedoms at the TSK. We had talks with officials for a change in the dress code. We are pleased with the amendment to the dress code regulation for civil servants,” said Dursun.
In August the Turkish government also abolished a ban that prohibited female police officers from wearing a religious headscarf while on duty.
