Turkish PM Challenges Headscarf Ban

January 26, 2008

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Al Jazeera

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/AF64357F-1B17-41B5-A036-CF5E23252E0F.htm

The Turkish prime minister has challenged a ban on Muslim headscarves in universities and public offices, saying there was no need to wait for a constitutional change to remove the ban, state media says.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan is pushing to lift the ban which he says is merely a question of individual liberty. "There is no need to wait for the new constitution. Its solution is very easy," the Anatolia news agency quoted him as saying on Wednesday. "It can be solved through consensus over a sentence." The secular establishment including the military sees the attempt to lift the ban as a political statement aimed at undermining the secular principles which Turkey's military has staunchly upheld in the past.