Turkish Observant Women Wearing Scarves March in Turkish Cities Protesting The Supreme Court
Turkish observant women wearing scarves march in Turkish cities protesting the Turkish Supreme Court decision to upturn the lifting the ban on headscarves for college students. What secularists tyranny?
Headscarves women march against court ruling
Saturday, June 7, 2008
ISTANBUL - Reuters
Hundreds of headscarved women protested Friday against a court ruling to cancel a reform which would have allowed students to wear the Muslim garment at university.
About 500 women demonstrated in the southeastern city of Diyarbakır after Friday prayers, and hundreds more in colourful headscarves chanted slogans in Istanbul.
"I'm crushed and feel hopeless. I really don't feel equal to anybody else in this country anymore," said Esra Altınay Özbecetek, 29, who ditched university when she was 19 because she was not allowed to wear her headscarf to class.
"For 10 years I've watched people enter and graduate from university and I've just sat by and watched," she said.
Like Altınay Özbecetek, thousands of women have not gone to university because of the ban, which has been enforced strictly since 1997, or have gone abroad to study.
The Justice and Development Party (AKP) passed the amendment earlier this year to allow students to wear the headscarf at university -- angering the secularist establishment which sees the headscarf as a symbol of political Islam.
According to recent surveys, some two thirds of Turkish women wear some form of the headscarf and about the same proportion supported lifting the ban for students.
"It means we are not equal. Headscarved women will continue to suffer discrimination and that will (be enshrined in) the law," said Neslihan Akbulut, head of rights group Akder.
"If there is civilian politics, if there is democracy ... they can't ignore (women who cover their heads)," she said.
Some women, who fear that if the headscarf is allowed into the public sphere all Turkish women will one day be forced to cover up, were pleased by the court's decision.
"Personally, I'm afraid that the headscarf could become an established symbol of the state and that wearing headscarves in universities is just the first step, so I think the (court) decision is a well grounded one," said Fatma Aslan, a 24 year-old masters student.
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=106652he
Headscarves women march against court ruling
Saturday, June 7, 2008
ISTANBUL - Reuters
Hundreds of headscarved women protested Friday against a court ruling to cancel a reform which would have allowed students to wear the Muslim garment at university.
About 500 women demonstrated in the southeastern city of Diyarbakır after Friday prayers, and hundreds more in colourful headscarves chanted slogans in Istanbul.
"I'm crushed and feel hopeless. I really don't feel equal to anybody else in this country anymore," said Esra Altınay Özbecetek, 29, who ditched university when she was 19 because she was not allowed to wear her headscarf to class.
"For 10 years I've watched people enter and graduate from university and I've just sat by and watched," she said.
Like Altınay Özbecetek, thousands of women have not gone to university because of the ban, which has been enforced strictly since 1997, or have gone abroad to study.
The Justice and Development Party (AKP) passed the amendment earlier this year to allow students to wear the headscarf at university -- angering the secularist establishment which sees the headscarf as a symbol of political Islam.
According to recent surveys, some two thirds of Turkish women wear some form of the headscarf and about the same proportion supported lifting the ban for students.
"It means we are not equal. Headscarved women will continue to suffer discrimination and that will (be enshrined in) the law," said Neslihan Akbulut, head of rights group Akder.
"If there is civilian politics, if there is democracy ... they can't ignore (women who cover their heads)," she said.
Some women, who fear that if the headscarf is allowed into the public sphere all Turkish women will one day be forced to cover up, were pleased by the court's decision.
"Personally, I'm afraid that the headscarf could become an established symbol of the state and that wearing headscarves in universities is just the first step, so I think the (court) decision is a well grounded one," said Fatma Aslan, a 24 year-old masters student.
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=106652he
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