Turkey allows Islamic headscarves at universities

11/02/2008

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan hailed parliament's vote as a triumph for democracy, but Turkey's secularists see it as a threat to the separation of religion and state.

By Ayhan Simsek for Southeast European Times – 11/02/08

A display of headscarves hangs in an Istanbul shop. [Getty Images]

Parliament voted on Saturday (February 9th) to allow Islamic headscarves at universities, handing a victory to the Islamist-rooted ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). On Monday, women wearing headscarves were allowed entry to universities in the cities of Kocaeli, Adana and Diyarbakir, even though the legislation -- which requires the signature of President Abdullah Gul -- had not yet come into force.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands rallied in Ankara to protest parliament's move. Turkey's secularists -- who include the still-powerful army, the judiciary and academics -- see the headscarf as a symbol of political Islam, a growing movement in Turkey that opposes strict separation of state and religion.

Opponents say lifting the ban will increase social pressure on women to wear the headscarf, especially in small cities. They warn that Turkish society will become more polarised, with universities becoming major ideological battlegrounds.

The army has remained silent during the latest debates, but senior judges and university rectors condemned the changes as "unconstitutional". Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) vowed to launch an appeal with the Constitutional Court, seeking to have the decision overturned.

According AKP leader, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, however, parliament's vote was a triumph for democracy and justice. Speaking Sunday to around 15,000 Turkish immigrants in Cologne, Germany, he insisted that "reforms for broader freedoms in Turkey" would continue. At the same time, he criticised Turkish society for losing its moral bearings.

"Turkey has failed to import science from the Western world, and instead has imported immoral behaviour from the West," Erdogan told his largely conservative audience of Turkish immigrants in Germany. His remarks were greeted with enthusiastic applause.

The EU had no comment on Saturday's vote. But the European Parliament's rapporteur for Turkey is worried.

"I am concerned that this current heated debate in Turkey might lead from lifting the prohibition to a moral pressure for women to wear the headscarf in universities," Ria Oomen-Ruijten said. But she added that Europe is not involved in the issue and would issue no judgment about it.

Turkey's neighbour Iran, which is under a strict Islamic regime, welcomed the Turkish parliament's move. Hojatoleslam Biriya, a senior adviser to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, told the press that this indicates the spread of Islam in Turkey.

All women in Iran, including foreigners, are obliged in public to wear a headscarf, Biriya reminded reporters.

The headscarf ban at Turkey's universities dates back to the 1980s. It was significantly tightened in 1997 when army generals, with public support, ousted a government they deemed too Islamist.

Several Turkish women students filed complaints with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in recent years, arguing that the state ban violated their right to education and constituted discrimination.

In 2005, however, the ECHR judges upheld the ban in the sample case of Leyla Sahin. They said it was justified on the grounds that Turkey avoids giving preference to any religion in the public sphere, and that authorities were seeking to maintain public order.

"The court did not lose sight of the fact that there were extremist political movements in Turkey which sought to impose on society as a whole their religious symbols and conception of a society founded on religious precepts," the court said.

Erdogan was incredulous. "I am amazed at this decision," he said. "The European court has no right to speak on this issue of headscarves. That right belongs to the Islamic ulema (scholars)."