Turkish Court Sanctions Teacher For Wearing Hijab

The Associated Press reported on Saturday that Turkey's highest administrative court, the Council of State, has ruled that a teacher should not be promoted because she wears a Muslim headscarf (hijab) outside of school. Turkish law, attempting to maintain a secular state, prohibits wearing the hijab in schools and other public buildings. Even though the teacher, Aytac Kilinc, removes the scarf each day while teaching, the court said she was setting a bad example for young people and violated the secular principles of the Turkish state by wearing it elsewhere. Both Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul condemned the ruling. Kilinc said she will appeal the decision to the European Court of Human Rights. About 99 percent of Turks are Muslims, but the country for decades has attempted to limit Islamic influence, which some see as an obstacle to Western-style modernization.