Photo Credit: Sheena Samu

Stony Brook University student journalist Dahlia Ibrahim spent her winter break reporting from Istanbul, and while there did a story about the headscarf in Turkey. In 1924, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk—who was in power of Turkey at the time—wanted the country to be the first ever secular Muslim country, she said. He thus banned wearing the hijab in some public spaces, she said, because he didn’t want people to think the women of Turkey were “oppressed.”

Recently, the ban was lifted, and Ibrahim says now women can wear the headscarf however and whenever they want. She said the hijab has undergone a “cultural evolution” of sorts: some women wear it to show their religious affiliation, some people wear it as a fashion statement, and some to signify what part of Turkey they’re from.

To watch Ibrahim’s full report, click here.