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The group, led by headscarved activists such as Emine Arslaner, Yasemin Vatandaş and Ayla Karadağ, demands an urgent solution to Turkey´s headscarf problem.
The group has started a petition for headscarf freedom on its website, sarieylem.com. In the petition, the group accuses the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) of having shelved the headscarf question, despite coming to power with the votes of religious conservatives.
“Will you talk to us too if we put on yellow headscarves?” the group asked, addressing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The question refers to a meeting that was scheduled between the prime minister and “35 blonde women” from İzmir, according to Turkish newspapers. The meeting was arranged in April 2011, prior to the June 12 general elections by the AK Party´s women´s branches. The 35 blonde women from İzmir, who have never voted for the AK Party, were to meet with the prime minister and express their concerns about the future of secularism in Turkey and their way of life. The number 35 is significant in that it is the license plate code for İzmir province. The meeting never took place as it was canceled by the AK Party´s İzmir branch after it was covered by the press.
According to their statement, members of the Yellow Movement believe that the AK Party has forgotten its earlier promises to abolish the headscarf ban at Turkish universities, public agencies and in Parliament. “As we notice that we are not included among the increasing number of women [the AK Party] brings to Parliament each election, we ask ‘why´?” the statement said, noting that it was conservative women, women wearing the headscarf, who saved money and donated to the AK Party in its earlier days and actively worked for the party. The statement said that, as long-time supporters of the party, they felt they were being treated as “expired cans of food” and that their places were being filled with new people who were nominated as deputies specifically to give the party a new image in an attempt to attract the votes of “concerned folks,” which is how they refer to secular segments of society.
Although the group does not describe itself as a feminist movement, it also criticized Erdoğan harshly for his words “Is that a girl, or a woman?” in reference to a female activist who climbed on a police tank during a protest against police brutality in Hopa, Artvin, where one person died during Erdoğan´s visit in his election campaign. The group said the prime minister had “let out” his anti-women stance, saying that the opposition leaders were no different.
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