ASSOCIATED PRESS: ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey's top court ruled Thursday that Islamic head scarves violate secularism and cannot be allowed at universities.
The decision is a defeat for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic-oriented government, which tried to allow the head scarves at universities as a matter of personal and religious freedom.
But the Constitutional Court verdict issued Thursday said constitutional amendments that were passed by Parliament in February went against secularism.
The head scarf issue is an explosive one Turkey, where the government is locked in a power struggle with secular groups that have support from the military and other state institutions.
The verdict is likely to bode ill for the government. Turkey's chief prosecutor is seeking to disband the ruling party because it is "the focal point of anti-secular activities" in a separate case at the Constitutional Court. He has cited attempts to allow head scarves at universities as a case in point.
Many see the head scarf as an emblem of political Islam, and consider any attempt to allow it in schools as an attack against modern Turkey's secular laws. Turkish Court Upholds College Head Scarf Ban >>> By Suzan Fraser | June 5, 2008
BBC:
Court Annuls Turkish Scarf Reform >>> | June 5, 2008
LE MONDE:
La Cour constitutionnelle turque annule un amendement autorisant le port du voile à l'université >>> | 05.06.08
DIE PRESSE:
Türkei: Kopftuch-Reform ist verfassungswidrig >>> | 05.06.2008
BBC:
Turkish Leaders Face Tense Summer >>> By David O’Byrne | June 5, 2008
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