Objective coverage of church-state and religious liberty developments, with extensive links to primary sources.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Turkey's Prime Minister Wants To Permit Headscarves To Be Worn At Universities
BBC News reports that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said, in a Financial Times interview, that he wants to lift Turkey's ban on Muslim women wearing headscarves at state universities. President Abdullah Gul supported Erdogan, saying: "It is much better for [women who are covered] to go to university than to stay home and be isolated from social life." In Turkey, the headscarf has become a symbol of a perceived threat to the country's secular foundations, and was a major issue in the Parliamentary election of Gul as President earlier this year. Military and judicial leaders oppose any changes that would erode Turkey's official secularist rules.