Turkish Parliament Adopts Headscarf Reform

[Bianca]

                                    Turkish parliament adopts headscarf reform
 




ANKARA (AFP) - Turkish lawmakers voted Saturday for a second and final time in favour of a constitutional amendment package to lift a ban on Islamic headscarves in universities, parliament speaker Koksal Toptan said.
 
A total of 411 lawmakers in the 550-seat house cast 'yes' ballots in a final vote on the entire package, tabled by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and backed by the opposition Nationalist Action Party.

The package amends two constitutional articles 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.

The strong parliamentary approval for the reform came in defiance of secularist objections that the amendments undermine the strict separation of state and religion in mainly Muslim Turkey.

[Ahura Mazda]

They should have left the ban intact.  The headescarf is a repression of Islamic women, some of them have been repressed so long they simply aren't aware of it anymore.