Iranian media reported that the Turkish Airlines office in the Iranian capital of Tehran was shut down by police after female employees allegedly refused to wear the obligatory headscarf, or hijab, in defiance of the country's laws.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that police officers went to the Turkish Airlines office in Tehran on Monday to issue a first warning over the non-observance of hijab by the company's employees.
Nonetheless, it has been reported that the employees, who are of Iranian origin, caused trouble for the police officers, resulting in the office's closure. According to the Tasnim report, the police subsequently sealed the office due to the employees' conduct.
According to Tasnim, the Turkish Airlines office will be allowed to reopen on Wednesday and resume business as usual, something the police did not confirm. The report further stated that police would not seal any business due to non-observance of the hijab, but would issue first warnings.
There was no immediate comment from Turkish Airlines regarding the incident in Tehran.
Following the September 2022 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after her arrest by Iran's morality police, an open defiance of the headscarf law erupted into mass protests across Iran. Although it appears that the protests have largely abated, the decision made by certain Iranian women to remain exposed on the streets poses a fresh challenge to the country's theocracy.
Over the past few years, the Iranian authorities have shut down numerous establishments across the country, ranging from shops, restaurants to pharmacies and offices, for allowing their female employees to refrain from wearing the hijab in a discreet manner.
The aforementioned reinforcement was amplified during the months preceding Iran's presidential election in June to succeed the late President Ebrahim Raisi, who perished in a helicopter crash a month prior.
The incident at the Tehran office of Turkish Airlines occurred on the same day that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Iran's President-elect Masoud Pezeshkian to express his congratulations on his victory in the presidential runoff last week.
Pezeshkian defeated Saeed Jalili in the election, promising to reach out to the West and ease the country's mandatory headscarf law after years of sanctions and protests.
According to the state-run IRNA news agency, Tehran prosecutor Ali Salehi stated that no legal proceedings or ruling had been issued regarding the sealing of the Turkish Airlines office in Tehran.
Iran and Turkey have maintained favorable relations, and in the year 2023, their bilateral trade amounted to $5.4 billion. Additionally, Turkey is a popular tourist destination for Iranians, with some 2.5 million visiting last year.
Turkish Airlines is a preferred airline among Iranians due to the shorter travel duration to the United States and Canada, in comparison to other long-haul flights from Arab countries in the Persian Gulf.
