It was deeply worrying that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan continued to paint the Gezi Park protesters at his June 16 rally in Istanbul as anti-Muslims. “Those who enter mosques with their shoes; those who consume alcohol at mosques; those who abused my sisters with head scarves on the streets, are you happy with what you have done?” he asked. 

But the video footage from inside that mosque on the night of June 12 make it clear that the mosque was turned into a medical emergency station for many injured by the police’s excessive use of force. And it’s dubious how many women with head cover were verbally or physically abused. Many women with no head cover unfortunately face those challenges, too.

But while the prime minister uses religious symbols in his rallies criticizing those protesting his policies, the obvious question that needs to be discussed is this: Why is the prime minister using such dangerous rhetoric, provoking one segment of the society against the other, creating concern about Turkey's taking an even more religious turn? It’s also becoming more difficult to agree with Erdogan’s claims that he has never interfered in people’s lifestyles — as even those protesters he’s bringing under a religiously provocative spotlight are Muslims. Does he see in himself the right to quantify people’s religiosity?

“It’s true that Turkey does not become a Saudi Arabia, Iran or a Malaysia. But, by the same token, it does not turn out to be a Germany, Britain or Italy. It took so many long wars for them to get to where they are today; they have suffered a lot due to sectarian fighting. Thank God, we haven’t suffered as much,” Beyza Bilgin, a prominent theology professor in Turkey, told Al-Monitor. “Some friends interpret the prime minister’s usage of those religious symbols [in these rallies] as a message to his own base, conveying, 'I haven’t forgotten about your sensitivities.' After all, he has not yet made it legally possible for women with head scarves to work freely at government offices. It’s not clear how long they can remain patient on this issue.”