Evening star., 1925-10-14
HEADGEA AR CHANGES
MARK TURK ERAS
Are First Outward Sign of
Political Reform-Hat Now
Displacing Fez.

Hats and history are not coupled
IN most peoples minds" says a bulle-
Tin from the headquarters of the Ma
tional Geographic Society anent the
recent efforts of Turkish leaders to
have the fez replaced by European
types of hats. but in Turkey radical
changes in types of head coverings
have marked important historical de-
Velopments
When the Ottoman Turks came
down out of Central Asia as rough
riding plainsmen they are believed to
have worn the high. soft cap of
ustrakhan wool known as the kalpak
IA sort of little brother to the drum
majors fuzzy, towering headpiece of
today. The Turks have shown a
tendency to take their reforms by
udden SpurtS, holding tenaciouSly to
tho latest innovation between times.
f:@fore long after their arrival in
soutiern Asia they had gone over
bodily to the turban of that region
.and this remained the characteristic
Turkish headgear for many centuries.
Turban Told Rank.
The turban became the complex
badge of rank and even profession in
Turkey at the height of its power.
From the Snow-white turbans of the
Moslem ecclesiastical dignitaries and
the huge piles with distinctive stripes
and shapes of the grand vizier and
lesser political lights. these head COW
eringS ranged down to the dirty cloths
wound round the heads of the peas
ants. Every good Turk during this
era had the profoundeSt contempt
for things European. and the hat was
he badge of the infideI. One of the
greatest insults that could be offered
I" Turk who had shown too great
f"iendlincss toward Franks was to
n.tl Il hat to his door.
The feZ. which has been associated
l. the minds of the last few genera
toms with all things Turkish, came as
one of the sudden Turkish reforms
relatively a short time ago. Sultan
Nahmoud II. who ruled during the
carly years of the nineteenth century,
wished, like Peter the Great of Russia
10 modernize his people and turn their
thoughts from Asia. He decreed that
his people should abandon the turban
and wear the fez, doubtless Influenced
by the fact that the latter is at once
more modiSh and more convenient He
coupled the feZ with the introduction
of the frock coat for his courtiers and
the well dressed young Turk in gen
eral and was cursed roundly by most
ot his people as the infidel sultan.
The use of the fez continued, however
to such good advantage that within
generation or so it was looked upon
by the outside world, and no doubt by
most Turks, as the distinctive age-old
Turkish head covering.
Brins Hindered Prayer.
Why Mahmoud settled on the fez
as the particular type of head cover
Ing to replace the turban is hard to
understand. Most Of his reforms
look ed toward y-aStarpizatior p,&
something very like the fez was worn
by the ancient Assyrians and Hittites,
and 1t is supposed to have come down
10 modern times through the Byzan-
tines and the Greeks. One thing in
its favor was its lack of brim. So
long as the Turks were devout Mos
lens. praCticing their prostrations at
prayer time, brimS were not pernlis-
sble, since they interfered with the
touching Of the forehead to the
ground.
After the World War. when a rev.
olution became successful in Turkey,
the leaders at first turned back to the
ancient kalpak of the original Turks.
This head covering became popular
as signifying a return to the virtues
of the old stock, and was worn by all
people of prominence in the new
regime.
Like all the other changes in head
coverings, the most recent move in
favor of the straw and fedora Of
Western Europe has its significance.
The caliphate has been abolished, the
Mohammedan religion has been re-
moved from its place of power in gov
ernment and there is no more reason
Why a Turk should not wear a brim
if he chooses than an Italian or an
Englishman. And the movements
that accompany this Europeanization
of head coverings is significant
Poiygamy has been abolished. women
.re encouraged to abandon the veil.
marriages are TO be civil only, and an
entirely new code of laws. modelled
largely after European systems. is
being drafted. The Turk is not only
changing his hat, he is making him
self over cap-a-pie."