WUNRN
Turkey's
Constitutional Court Defended Its Decision Opposing Islamic Headscarves at the
Country's Universities.
Ankara,
22 Oct. (AKI) - Turkey's Constitutional Court on Wednesday defended its decision
opposing Islamic headscarves at the country's universities saying it harmed the
principles of the republic.
The Turkish news site, Hurriyet, cited the release of the court's reasons
behind its ruling to annul constitutional amendments to lift the headscarf ban
in universities. The court handed down its decision to annul the legislation in
June.
"This legislation violates Article 2 of the Constitution which defines the
articles that cannot be changed or even proposed to be changed," the court
said.
In June the Constitutional Court said that a decision made in Parliament in
February to ease a ban on scarves being worn on college campuses, violated the
Turkish constitution's secular principles.
The government had then said that banning headscarves at universities meant
that many girls were being denied an education.
Article 2 of the Turkish Constitution describes the characteristics of the
republic in which secularism is included. The first three articles of the
Turkish Constitution cannot be amended.
The court said on Wednesday that lifting the ban "indirectly changed"
and undermined the basic features of the republic.
The ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) sponsored legislation amending
articles of the Constitution related to equality before the law and the right
and duty of training and education.
The Republican People’s Party and the Democratic Left Party appealed to the
Constitutional Court to review the legislation.
"It is decided that the amendment of Article 10 and 42 of the constitution
implicitly violates the secularism principle at its essence as it would limit
other people's rights and damage the public order by taking previous verdicts
of the Turkish Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights into
consideration," the court said.
Turkey's population of 70 million people is predominantly Muslim. But
secularists fear that lifting the ban on headscarves at universities would
erode Turkey's officially secular state nature and create pressure on all
female students to cover themselves.
Lifting the headscarf ban is a sensitive issue in Turkey's political landscape
as the headscarf is seen as the symbol of political Islam.
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