Chief of the Religious Affairs Directorate Ali Bardakoğlu has responded to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s call for cooperation in solving the headscarf issue by asking politicians to solve the problem themselves.

“Don’t leave the headscarf issue to us, let the politicians solve it through dialogue,” Bardakoğlu told daily Habertürk on Friday.

Erdoğan had previously called for a solution to the issue through the involvement of the Religious Affairs Directorate, a department within the Prime Ministry.

Bardakoğlu responded by saying the directorate does “not make statements on order.”

Wearing a headscarf is a matter of personal choice, said the religious chief. “Wearing a headscarf does not make you Muslim, just as not wearing a headscarf does not mean that you are not Muslim.”