"Secularism, which does not mean irreligion, requires equal treatment of
different religious beliefs," senior AKP lawmaker Sadullah Ergin told the NTV
news channel after the vote. "We have ended the different treatment of people
on grounds of their religious beliefs," he added. The package amends the
constitution to read that the state will treat everyone equally when it
provides services such as university courses and that no one can be barred from
education for reasons not clearly laid down by law, an allusion to young women
who wear headscarves.
Turkish lawmakers lift headscarf ban amid heavy protests
Posted: 10 February 2008 0926 hrs
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/327943/1/.html
ANKARA : Turkey's parliament voted Saturday to lift a ban on Islamic
headscarves at universities, handing victory to the Islamist-rooted ruling
party as tens of thousands protested the deeply controversial move.
The constitutional reform package tabled by the ruling Justice and Development
Party (AKP) received 411 'yes' votes in the 550-seat house, parliament speaker
Koksal Toptan said.
The new legislation, which was backed by the opposition Nationalist Action
Party, needed 367 votes to pass.
As parliament was voting, tens of thousands of people waving Turkish flags and
carrying pictures of modern Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, packed a
square in downtown Ankara to voice their opposition.
Secularists -- among them the army, the judiciary and academics -- see the
headscarf as a symbol of defiance against the strict separation of state and
religion, a basic tenet of the mainly Muslim country.
"Turkey is secular and will remain secular," shouted the protesters, among them
many women, including some wearing headscarves.
"What is being done today in parliament is to eliminate the republican regime
and replace it with bigotry," Gokhan Gunaydin, from the organising committee,
told the crowd to loud applause.
A police officer at the rally estimated that the crowd was less than 100,000
people while television channels put the number as high as 200,000. A similar
demonstration drew more than 125,000 people last weekend.
"Tayyip, take your headscarf and stuff it," said the demonstrators in Ankara,
calling on the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to resign.
The AKP says the headscarf ban, which was imposed after the 1980 military coup,
is a violation of the freedom of conscience and the right to education.
"Secularism, which does not mean irreligion, requires equal treatment of
different religious beliefs," senior AKP lawmaker Sadullah Ergin told the NTV
news channel after the vote.
"We have ended the different treatment of people on grounds of their religious
beliefs," he added.
The package amends the constitution to read that the state will treat everyone
equally when it provides services such as university courses and that no one
can be barred from education for reasons not clearly laid down by law, an
allusion to young women who wear headscarves.
It now needs to be approved by President Abdullah Gul, a former AKP member who
has yet to veto any law put forward by the government.
But the controversy is far from over, as the Republican People's Party (CHP),
Turkey's strictly secular main opposition, has threatened to challenge the
reform at the constitutional court.
The ban, upheld by the country's highest courts, has been implemented at
varying degrees over the years, forcing many women to abandon their education
and others to hide their headscarves under wigs to attend classes.
The secular camp says easing the restriction in universities will put pressure
on women to cover up and pave the way for the lifting of a similar ban in high
schools and government offices.
Leading academics have warned there could be clashes on campuses and a boycott
of classes by some female academics.
Some constitutional law experts, meanwhile, have said that the amendments,
criticized by some as hastily prepared, may not be enough to lift the
restriction on their own.
"Some rectors may still refuse to allow students with headscarves on campus,
citing a 1989 court ruling upholding the ban. We could have chaos," professor
Ergun Ozbudun said in a recent newspaper interview.
The AKP has said it plans to amend the higher education law next to
specifically say that nobody can be barred from education on account of their
headscarf.
That change, however, has failed to satisfy women who cover their heads as it
allows only the traditional head covering, which is more or less loosely
knotted under the chin, while excluding the wrap-around version, which
secularists see as a symbol of political Islam.
- AFP/ir
With Regards
Abi
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