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Turkey votes to lift Headscarf Ban |
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Sunday, 10 February 2008 |
The parliamentary vote on Saturday ending a decades-old ban on wearing
headscarves in public universities marked a historical moment in the ongoing
struggle between religion and secularism in Turkey.
In a recent poll, more than 60 percent of Turks said that they supported ending
restrictions on headscarves. The reaction from the country's secular
establishment however, has been extremely hostile, being totally oblivious of
freedom and democracy for which they supposedly stand.
In the predominantly Muslim Turkey, which seeks European Union membership, Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party has channeled the
frustration of devout masses, who feel excluded from the establishment, into
political action.
"We will end the sufferings of our girls at university gates," Erdogan said
Thursday in reference to pious female students who have been forced to remove
their headscarves at the entrance to campuses.
The Parliament will hold brief debates and vote on two crucial amendments to the
secular constitution to allow female students to wear headscarves on campus.
The ban on headscarves in Turkish universities has been implemented in varying
degrees over the years, forcing many women to abandon their education.
The struggle by the Muslim women of Turkey to reclaim their most fundamental
rights has been a long journey marked with hurdles and severe repression.
The outcome of the vote on Saturday is a victory, before all, to those
brave women and men
of Turkey who faced harsh treatment and detention, but whose resolve and
willingness to sacrifice for their rights did not succumb to those who used the
policy of power and force.
Source: AIM News
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