What Is a Turkish Hijab?

A Turkish hijab is a particular style of headcovering that Muslim women from Turkey are known to wear. While hijabs are worn by women in other countries, Turkish hijab styles sometimes differ in that they cover the head without necessarily covering all of the hair and neck as other types of hijabs do. Most women found to be wearing a Turkish hijab do so voluntarily, as it is not a mandatory style of dress for women in Turkey. Wearing a hijab is not only a religious statement for many women, but a sense of fashion and style is often exhibited in the types of hijabs a woman chooses to wear.

For many Muslim women, wearing a hijab is first and foremost a faith-based decision. Modest dressing being one of the tenets of Islam, women often dress in this manner as an outward statement of their religious values. In some parts of the world, however, women are forced to wear a hijab in public as doing so is compulsory. In Turkey, as well as many other countries, women embrace modest dressing by choice and not by force.

While dressing modestly is largely a religious statement, many Muslim women also choose to express a personal sense of fashion while wearing a hijab. These women tend to wear headcoverings and clothing featured in a variety of colors, fabrics and styles that deviate quite a bit from basic hijab styles, which are usually found to offer solid, muted and often dark colors. A high fashion or luxury hijab, on the other hand, may be of designer quality and feature exquisite designs and bold colors that often cause a woman to stand out in a crowd. Many Turkish hijab styles also fit into this category.

One of the primary differences often found in a Turkish hijab, however, is the way it is worn. In comparison to other hijab styles that are worn in such a way as to cover the entire head, including all of a woman’s hair and her neck, a Turkish hijab may allow a woman’s hairline, ponytail or neck to still be visible. Critics of this Turkish style do not believe it to be modest enough, while proponents believe that the symbolic wearing of the hijab makes the same social and religious statements as women who opt for full covering.