Turkey president backs lifting head scarf ban
Updated: 2008-02-23 11:04
ANKARA -- Turkish President Abdullah Gul on Friday approved constitutional amendments that allow Islamic head scarves at universities, his office said.
 |
The Law No. 5735 envisages amendments in Articles 10 on equality and Articles 42 on right to education of the Constitution.
Under the first amendment, last sentence of Article 10 says " state organs and administrative authorities shall act in compliance with the principle of equality before the law in all their proceedings and in benefitting from all public services."
The second amendment in article 42 on "Right and Duty of Training and Education" adds a paragraph that "no one can be deprived of his/her right to higher education for reasons not openly mentioned by laws. The limits of the use of this right will be determined by law."
On February 9, the Turkish parliament voted 411-103 in a final vote and approved the constitutional amendments aiming to lift a ban on female students wearing Islamic headscarves at universities.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the conservative Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) that supports the changes have the required two-thirds majority in the parliament.
The headscarf reform drew fierce opposition from the secular establishment in the predominantly Muslim but secular Turkey which has long forbidden Islamic headscarves at universities.
The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) did not have enough seats to hold off the measure but said it would appeal to the Constitutional Court to try to cancel it.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan' AKP and the MHP have agreed that scarves should be tied loosely with a knot beneath the chin, leaving the face exposed.
|
|
|
||
|
||
|
|
|
|