As February 28 approaches, it is important to remember that this process is not merely a closed chapter in Turkey’s past. The deep scars it left on the lives of Muslim women remain very much alive. Although February 28 is often described as a “postmodern coup,” its consequences were anything but abstract. Muslim women became one of the social groups who paid the heaviest price for this intervention.

While the declared target of the coup was Muslim identity, the cost was most visibly exacted from women. The headscarf was stripped of its meaning as an expression of faith in the public sphere and transformed into a justification for discrimination. Women’s rights to education, employment, and political participation were systematically restricted. The headscarf was no longer treated as a choice, but as a “problem,” and women were pushed out of public life.

Today, the issue is not simply about being a woman. The issue is that women who freely choose to be Muslim—and to wear the headscarf as part of that choice—are still forced to struggle for legitimacy in the public sphere.

Today, the issue is not simply about being a woman. The issue is that women who freely choose to be Muslim—and to wear the headscarf as part of that choice—are still forced to struggle for legitimacy in the public sphere.

The fact that these effects are still felt today shows that February 28 is not a closed parenthesis. In recent weeks, a woman mayor was subjected to humiliating language solely because of her clothing. This incident resurfaced........

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