13.11.2026 20:30
A noteworthy appointment has been made at Istanbul University, where during the February 28 period headscarved students were turned away from the university gates and which is etched in memories with the “persuasion rooms” practice. Prof. Dr. Sultan Şimşek, a faculty member of the Faculty of Theology, has become the university’s first headscarved vice-rector.
During the February 28 period, at Istanbul University, where headscarved students’ right to education was obstructed and which is remembered for the “persuasion rooms” practice, Prof. Dr. Sultan Şimşek was appointed to the position of vice rector. The appointment brought the university’s past headscarf ban practices back onto the agenda.
At Istanbul University, Faculty of Theology faculty member Prof. Dr. Sultan Şimşek was appointed to the position of vice rector. The appointment, announced by the university’s Faculty of Theology on November 12, was considered a first in the history of Istanbul University in terms of a headscarved academic being appointed to the position of vice rector.
The appointment also brought back onto the agenda the past of Istanbul University, one of the institutions where the headscarf ban was most intensely debated during the February 28 period. At that time, the university was remembered for headscarved students not being admitted to classes and for the practice known to the public as “persuasion rooms.”
BAN ON HEADSCARVED STUDENTS DURING THE FEBRUARY 28 PERIOD
After the February 28, 1997 process, Istanbul University became one of the institutions where the headscarf ban implemented at universities came to the fore. At the university under the administration of then-Rector Kemal Alemdaroğlu, headscarved students were prevented from attending classes, internships and practical training.
With the university administration’s circular dated February 23, 1998, instructions were given that female students wearing headscarves and male students with beards were not to be admitted to classes, internships and practical training. Headscarved students faced various obstacles at university entrances and during registration in order to continue their education.
THEY WERE ASKED TO REMOVE THEIR HEADSCARVES IN THE “PERSUASION ROOMS”
One of the most debated practices of the February 28 period was the interview rooms pioneered by then-Istanbul University Vice Rector Nur Serter and referred to as “persuasion rooms.”
Headscarved students who wanted to enroll at the university were taken into these rooms and subjected to suggestions to uncover their heads. According to testimonies from the period, during the interviews students were told that they needed to remove their headscarves in order to continue their education. It was also reported that the interviews were recorded by camera and that some students were asked to give undertakings that they would receive education without headscarves.
Students subjected to the practice said that they had to use wigs, berets and hats in order to continue their education. The “persuasion rooms” became one of the symbols of the pressures on headscarved students during the February 28 period.
HEADSCARF BAN TAKEN TO THE ECHR
The headscarf ban at Istanbul University was also taken to the judiciary. Istanbul Medical Faculty student Leyla Şahin applied to the European Court of Human Rights after she was not admitted to classes and exams because of her headscarf. Şahin’s application brought the headscarf ban at universities onto the international legal agenda.
WHO IS SULTAN ŞİMŞEK?
Prof. Dr. Sultan Şimşek, appointed Vice Rector of Istanbul University, graduated from Atatürk University’s Department of Arabic Language and Literature in 1998. She completed her master’s degree at the same university in 2001 and her doctorate in 2011.
In addition to her academic career, Şimşek taught Arabic for eight years at imam hatip high schools in Ağrı, Erzurum and Istanbul, and began working at Istanbul University’s Faculty of Theology in July 2013. Continuing her work in the Department of Arabic Language and Rhetoric, Şimşek received the title of associate professor in 2019.
With Şimşek’s appointment as vice rector, the headscarf ban and “persuasion rooms” during the February 28 period a