Turkey moves to ease headscarf ban

30/01/2008

Constitutional amendments that would ease the ban on wearing Muslim headscarves in universities were submitted to parliament by Turkey's ruling party on Tuesday, and are widely expected to be approved in the coming days.

(Zaman - 30/01/08; AFP, AP, Reuters, DPA, BBC, CNN, VOA, FT, International Herald Tribune, Euronews - 29/01/08)

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses the ruling Justice and Development Party MPs during a meeting in parliament on Tuesday (January 29th). [Getty Images]

Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) submitted to the country's parliament on Tuesday (January 29th) a bill that would ease a ban on the wearing of the Muslim headscarf in universities, despite secular groups' strong opposition to such moves.

The draft amendments to the constitution and the higher education law were sent to the speaker a day after the Islamist-rooted party reached a deal with the far-right opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) late Monday.

Turkish Prime Minister and AKP leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday cited respect for basic human rights and creating equality in the country's higher education system as the main motives behind the move. The proposed changes would be limited to the universities, Erdogan was quoted by Reuters as telling lawmakers from his party in televised remarks.

The ban on wearing the Muslim headscarf in public institutions and schools was first imposed after the 1980 military coup in Turkey, and was strictly enforced in universities in the late 1990s.

Erdogan, whose wife and daughters wear the head cover, promised to lift the ban ahead of Turkey's 2002 parliamentary elections in which the AKP first came to power. However, in order to avoid a clash with the republican establishment, Erdogan was reluctant to push for the required constitutional changes. The country's powerful and staunchly secular military have forced four governments out of office in the last five decades.

The move to ease the headscarf ban in universities comes less than a year after the AKP's landslide victory in the July 2007 parliamentary elections.

Under the proposed changes, female students on state campuses would be allowed to wear the traditional scarf, which is tied under the chin and leaves the face entirely visible. The ban on the turban that covers the hair and neck would remain in force.

"Under our plan, the [woman's] face must remain open and so a person will not be permitted to conceal her identity," MHP leader Devlet Bahceli told lawmakers from his party on Tuesday, stressing that all forms of Islamic dress, such as chadors and burqas, will remain banned.

The bill has prompted sharp criticism from the two left-wing, pro-secular opposition parties in parliament, the Republican People's Party (CHP) and Democratic Left Party, and is expected to stir a heated plenary debate in the 550-seat assembly in the coming days.

The constitutional amendments need to be supported by at least 367 lawmakers to be adopted. As the AKP and the MHP have a combined 410-seat majority, the bill is widely expected to be easily approved.

While the military have not announced their position yet, secularist parties and groups fear that the proposed partial lift of the headscarf ban could be the first step towards imposing religious beliefs in Turkey.

CHP leader Deniz Baykal saw it as a "threat against the republic", while another senior member of his party, Onur Oymen, warned Tuesday that "Turkey is headed step-by-step towards becoming a theocratic state". That party has pledged to challenge any changes in the Constitutional Court if they are approved by parliament.