Is Erdogan's daughter running for office?

ISTANBUL — As Turkey gears up for a parliamentary election in June, there is intense speculation that the youngest daughter of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan may run for a seat in the national assembly. Sumeyye Erdogan, 30, has not commented publicly on the issue, but politicians from both government and opposition ranks say they are certain that she will try to win a seat for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). Critics say an effort to shield members of the first family from corruption investigations lies behind the expected move to win her a seat in Ankara.

Sumeyye, a US-educated political scientist who also holds a degree from the London School of Economics, served as an adviser to her father during his tenure as AKP leader and prime minister, accompanying him on many foreign trips until she gave up her post when Erdogan was elected president last year. Nowadays, the unmarried Erdogan, youngest of the president’s four children, works as the deputy chairwoman of the Association for Women and Democracy, a women’s rights group.

According to the Hurriyet daily, Erdogan’s candidacy for parliament is very likely, but there is no final decision yet by the Erdogan “family council.” If she does run, she will fit into plans by the AKP, a party rooted in political Islam, to raise the number of female deputies who wear the Islamic headscarf. Like her mother, Emine, and her older sister, Esra, Sumeyye Erdogan covers her hair in public.

Hurriyet reported the AKP wanted to send 60 women to parliament after the June election, with 30 of them wearing the headscarf. Under secularist rules abolished under Erdogan’s premiership in recent years, the headscarf was banned in parliament, universities and other state institutions for decades. At the moment, 77 out of 550 members of Turkey’s parliament are women, a share of only 14.4%, with the AKP providing the biggest group of 45 female deputies. Only a handful of politicians have been wearing the headscarf in the chamber.