Turkey votes to lift headscarf ban
Turkey’s parliament has voted to lift a ban on female students wearing the Muslim headscarf at university, a landmark decision that some Turks say will undermine the foundations of the secular state. But a parliamentary spokesperson commented that it was the right move for Turkey in the hope of achieving a spirit of tolerance and reconciliation.
Parliament voted 403-107 in favour of a first amendment, which will insert a paragraph into the constitution stating that everyone has the right to equal treatment from state institutions.
“I hope this will be for the best for Turkey and hope it is done in a spirit of tolerance and reconciliation,” parliamentary speaker Koksal Toptan told the press after the landmark vote.
But underlining the powerful emotions the headscarf evokes, tens of thousands of people waving Turkish flags and chanting secularist slogans staged a protest rally against the changes just a few kilometres from the parliament in central Ankara, a key theme being that people did not want to live in a religious state.
The main opposition party CHP opposed the changes, saying they represented a slow slide towards an Islamic state and the opposition Republican people’s party has vowed to go to the constitutional court in an attempt to block the changes.
Up until the now, female students have been forced to remove their head scarves when entering campuses. Some have resorted to wearing wigs instead to ensure their heads are covered so as to comply with their faith.
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