**6. Conclusions**

This article has investigated the reasons why some hijabi Muslim women have recently decided to stop wearing the veil. This phenomenon has occurred under the Islamically inclined AKP, and the article has examined the extent to which women's motivations for unveiling relate to Turkey's current sociopolitical atmosphere. Although many of my ex-hijabi interlocutors declared that they did not like to be perceived as pro-AKP, I have outlined other sociological reasons as well as familial and theological motivations behind their decisions to unveil.

This article has discussed Muslim women's decisions to unveil in terms of their construction of a new perspective on politics and political authority. Their criticisms do not only target devout Muslims who demand Muslim perfection; ex-hijabi women also criticize the secularist gaze. A crucial point here is that despite the normalization of the headscarf under AKP rule, my interlocutors still refer to feelings of fatigue with the secularist gaze. Certainly, their fatigue is not unconnected to the increasingly polarized climate fostered by the AKP since the Gezi protests. Polarization and anti-AKP sentiments thus emerge as important reasons why many of my interlocutors have stopped wearing the veil. Most of my participants define their political alignment, not in terms of political party affiliations, but with regard to basic liberal and/or human rights conceptions (e.g., justice, women's equality, meritocracy, freedom of expression). Thus, although removing the veil may mean non-alignment with the AKP, it does not indicate adherence to any opposition parties.

Moreover, the article has argued that unveiling is closely related to Muslim women's religious transformation—a dynamic and nonlinear process. Contrary to popular media debates or Islamic and political discourses on the subject, unveiling is not necessarily about abandoning the Islamic faith. Most interlocutors' changing engagements with mainstream Islamic ideas, discourses, and symbols sugges<sup>t</sup> that ex-hijabi women develop a new perspective on female piety. It is central to most interlocutors' experience of unveiling that they began by questioning the achievement of perfect piety—which necessitates the carefully regulated and socially policed implementation of behaviors, dispositions and acts

that are particularly imposed on women. Often critical of this gendered imposition of social piety, many ex-hijabi accounts demonstrate a growing dissonance with taken-for-granted Islamic discourses. Importantly, my interlocutors' religious doubts are diverse, ranging from questioning the veil as a religious dictum to challenging traditional interpretations of Islam or leaving the faith altogether. One surprising finding is that ex-hijabis sometimes miss the practice of veiling. Such longings for the veil, especially by ex-Muslims, subvert the veil's usual significance in the construction of the "perfect" Muslim. Moreover, ex-hijabi women's narratives of unveiling—particularly expressions of doubt about the veil as a religious dictum and the general defense of alternative readings of Islam—result in the reconfiguration of religious authorities (e.g., Diyanet, Islamic scholars, Islamic orders).

Overall, despite differences in their upbringing, class and political affiliations, educated urban Muslim women's decisions to unveil in Turkey refer to a quest for individualism: they define piety in individualistic terms, counter parental pressure to make decisions about their own lives, or perceive politics through the lens of individualism and women's rights.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** Not applicable.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

**Data Availability Statement:** The data are not publicly available due to confidentiality.

**Acknowledgments:** I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Karin van Nieuwkerk, Deniz Kandiyoti, Mustafa Menshawy and two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments. I also would like to thank Rabia Kütük, Fatma Yavuz, Zehra Kele¸s, Zeynep Merve Uygun, Elif Bulut, Nergiz Erbay and Sümeyye Ceylan in assisting me to reach out my interlocutors. Lastly, I am enormously grateful to my interlocutors for giving me their time and their trust. This study would not have been possible without their cooperation.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The author declares no conflict of interest.
