DAR AL ISLAM-TURKEY: SECULAR TURKS MOVE AGAINST THE LAW ALLOWING THE 'HEAD SCARF'

Turkish parties move against law allowing head scarves

Two secular Turkish opposition parties jointly appealed to the Constitutional Court on Wednesday to overturn a law allowing women to wear Islamic head scarves in universities.

The Republican People's Party and Democratic Left Party said the law, already approved by the parliament and the president, violated the secular principles of the Constitution. Most universities have defied an instruction from the higher education board and denied entry to students wearing an Islamic head scarf.

"We have come to the Constitutional Court to fulfill a historic and important mission," said Onder Sav, general secretary of the Republican People's Party. "Lifting the ban on the head scarf would lead to pressures on those who do not cover their hair."

Most proponents of the ban also see the head scarf as an emblem of political Islam and consider any attempt to allow it in schools and government buildings as an attack against Turkey's secular laws. The ban's opponents say the head scarf is a matter of free expression.

It was not clear when the nation's top court, whose past verdicts helped enforce the ban, would make a decision.

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