Turkey Relaxes Hijab Ban

ANKARA — Turkey's parliament on Saturday, February 9, overwhelmingly voted to relax a decades-long ban on hijab on campus against a backdrop of a mass rally by secularists protesting the landmark move. "The proposal to change the constitution has been approved," parliament speaker Koksal Toptan told lawmakers after the vote, reported Reuters.

Some 411 lawmakers of the 550-seat parliament voted 'yes' for a proposal tabled by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to amend the Constitution to relax the ban.

The new legislation, which was backed by the opposition Nationalist Action Party (MHP) after a compromise deal with the AKP, only needed 367 votes to pass.

The amendment will read that the state will treat everyone equally when it provides services such as university courses and that no one can be barred from education for reasons not clearly laid down by law, an allusion to hijab-clad students.

"I hope this will be for the best for Turkey and hope it is done in a spirit of tolerance and reconciliation," said Toptan.

Hijab, an obligatory code of dress in Islam, was banned in public buildings, universities, schools and government buildings in Muslim-majority Turkey shortly after a 1980 military coup.

Under a compromise deal between AKP and MHP, women and girls at universities are permitted to cover their heads by tying the headscarf in the traditional way beneath the chin.

A majority of women use the traditional "basortusu" - head cover in Turkish - that is more or less loosely knotted under the chin for protection against the elements or for modesty.

It can come off just as easily as it can be tied on and raises no objections.

But the ban would remain on the wrap-round headscarf, which secularists claim is associated with political Islam, as well as face-veil.

The amendment now needs to be approved by President Abdullah Gul, a former AKP member.

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