Turkey headscarf law approved

[tayfah_mansurah]

Turkey's president has approved a constitutional change allowing students to wear headscarves at university despite strong objections from secularists.

The approval by Abdullah Gul, a former ruling AK Party foreign minister, was never seriously in doubt, though secularists had argued it should be rejected in the interest of national unity.

Turkey's parliament voted to end the headscarf ban on February 9 after the AK Party, which has Islamic roots, won the backing of a key nationalist party.

Secularists, including army generals and judges, fear lifting the ban will undermine the separation of state and religion in Turkey.

Secularist objections

The main secularist opposition party, the CHP, said it would appeal to the constitutional court to overturn the move.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister, said lifting the ban was essential for religious freedom in Turkey, a candidate for European Union membership.

In a statement, Gul's office sought to justify the amendments as an attempt to provide equal access for all citizens to higher education.

"The amendments do not conflict with the basic principles of the republic," it said.

It noted that legislators representing 80 per cent of Turkey's citizens had voted in favour of the constitutional amendments in parliament.

The government must still amend a law governing the state body for higher education before the changes can take effect.

The headscarf ban in universities dates back to the 1980s but was tightened in 1997 when army generals, with public support, overthrew a government.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exer...1183711A52.htm

[Umm Ahmed]

Good news alhamdulilaah

[Salsabil]

alhamdulillah, may Allah restore Islam in turkey. What a shame it was, that the home of the last khilafa, turned even against our poor sisters' dresses.